England win despite Chakravarthy’s five-for as India's batters choke

Kolkata: There was no flashy start, nor any blockbuster ending. Made by Varun Chakravarthy’s lengths and speed variation, England’s capitulation wasn’t exactly surprising as they slipped from 87/3 in 10 overs to 127/8. Liam Livingstone stood his ground though, refusing singles as if it was Test cricket, adding 45 with the last two batters and ultimately spelling out the difference in a crucial game as England beat India by 26 runs to win the third T20I in Rajkot on Tuesday.

India have chased down bigger scores in the past. The Rajkot pitch was firm, there was almost no dew, and the outfield had extra legs. So this was definitely a chance gone begging, especially after their bowling once again outdid themselves. Not for the first time in his career has Varun Chakravarthy returned a five-wicket haul but this was a reflection of the bigger ploy of baffling England with a cocktail of spin. Five wickets for 67 runs in 12 overs at Eden, 6/118 in 14 overs at Chennai; and now 7/108 in 13 overs—these are damning numbers to concede to spin at a time England are trying to usher in a new phase of white-ball cricket under Brendon McCullum.

Only three of England’s top-eight batters ended up getting into double digits but you wouldn’t have predicted that when Ben Duckett was wreaking carnage, carting Hardik Pandya for three boundaries before hitting Washington Sundar for 4, 4 and 6. Enter Chakravarthy and he immediately dried up the run flow. Duckett tried to break the shackles with a mishit finding its way over long-off for a boundary but Chakravarthy first got Jos Buttler—undoing him with a seam-up delivery that beat his reverse-sweep to take a faint edge his glove—before Axar Patel got Duckett to chase a flatter delivery and hole out to long-on.

Other England wickets too fell in similar fashion as India pressed seven bowlers into the attack, five of them spinners. Trying to force a sweep from wide outside off, Harry Brook got an under edge onto the stumps off Ravi Bishnoi’s bowling. Jamie Smith was looking to muscle Chakravarthy but picked Dhruv Jurel at deep midwicket, Jamie Overton was bowled through his gates before Brydon Carse couldn’t clear deep square-leg. Even Abhishek Sharma gave it a go as India chose to bowl only seven overs of pace, three of which came from Mohammad Shami, making a good but uneventful comeback after the 2023 ODI World Cup final.

What India’s spinners did to England, Adil Rashid achieved almost single handedly by conceding just 15 runs in his quota of four overs. The prized wicket of Tilak Varma too, making the ball grip and turn into him and bamboozling his middle stump. That, and Jamie Overton’s dead-straight bowling meant the game had been broken wide open by the time the match had entered its business end. Sanju Samson failed again, this time hurried into a heave that went to Rashid at mid-on. Sharma gave a flying start but miscued Carse, Yadav too departed after top-edging the quick Mark Wood.

Not till the fifth wicket could India stitch a partnership of 30 or more. When it finally happened—between Patel and Pandya—India were slowed to almost a standstill. Fifty required from 18 balls, Patel sliced Jofra Archer to backward point and out came Jurel to give company to Pandya who by then had faced the most balls among all India batters. Launching into Archer, he cleared long-off for a six, but next over he holed out to Buttler at long-on after his attempted slog lost shape. Shami entertained for a six but it was really down to Jurel pulling off an impossible equation of 32 from six balls. First ball of Carse, Jurel scooped it behind to the wicketkeeper for a tame finish that kept England alive in this series.