Chakravarthy''s five wicket-haul limits England to 171/9

Rajkot, Mohammed Shami made a solid comeback to international cricket after 14 months but it was Varun Chakravarthy's bowling effort that stood out as his five-wicket haul helped India limit England to 171/9 in the third T20 here on Tuesday.

England lost their way after a whirlwind fifty from Ben Duckett as the in-form Chakravarthy ran through the opposition batting on a flat track.

From 83 for one, England slipped to 127 for eight before Liam Livingstone went on a six-hitting spree to end the innings on a high.

Chakravarthy completed his second five-wicket haul in T20s when he bowled Jofra Archer with a googly.

While Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar proved expensive, Chakravarthy and Axar Patel kept things tight from their end.

After being put in to bat, England made a promising start by coasting to 52/1.

England have struggled against the Indian spinners in the series but Duckett overcame that challenge with some audacious strokeplay on way to his second T20 fifty. He danced down the track, employed the scoop and reverse hits to unsettle the opposition attack.

He was the aggressor in his 76-run stand with skipper Jos Buttler but the duo fell in quick succession to lose the momentum in the middle overs. Among the shots Duckett pulled off included a scoop over the keeper's head off Shami's second over.

When Shami marked his run up before toss, it was confirmed that he would be playing his first international since the ODI World Cup final in November 2023.

On a flat track, Shami, who replaced Arshdeep Singh as the sole specialist pacer in the playing eleven, was tasked with bowling the opening over of the match.

He induced a couple of play and misses in his opening spell that read 0/15 in two overs. Shami returned to bowl the 19th over which went for 11 runs capping off an incident free outing.

He bowled balls close to 140kmph and got the ball to shape away, allaying concerns over his fitness.

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