Virat Kohli rescues Team India with the bat in 3rd T20I

Captain Virat Kohli rescue act helped India put some score on the board after showcasing a similar show like the 1st T20I at Ahmedabad.

England won the much important toss at Narendra Modi Stadium and elect to field. India made one change bringing back Rohit Sharma in place of Suryakumar Yadav – which meant Ishan Kishan will drop down to no.3. The pace of Mark Wood was back for England.

KL Rahul’s disastrous form took an extended run when he was dismissed for a 4 ball duck . Rahul’s opening partner Rohit Sharma too departed for 15 mistiming a 146.5kmph delivery by Mark Wood which ended in the hands of Jofra Archer at short fine leg. The very next over Ishan Kishan who had a dream debut top edged a bouncer in the air off Chris Jordan as Buttler comfortably took a catch running backwards!

India were reduced to 24/3 in Powerplay – Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant fresh at the crease. The duo steadied the situation with a 40 run stand but a bizzare quest for an extra run cost Pant his wicket.

Shreyas Iyer was dimissed for 9 by Mark Wood as India lost half the squad for 86 in 14.3 overs. Hardik Pandya who walked in with team needing some quick fire runs, struggled initially against the extra pace cranked up by Mark Wood and Jofra Archer.

Meanwhile captain Virat took the onus on him to get the quick runs as he thumped Sixes off short pitched deliveries by Archer and Wood. Kohli reached his half century in 37 balls. Post half century he continued dealing in Sixes to up the ante as India reached 150 runs with 3 balls remaining in the innings!

Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 77 runs in 46 balls with the help of 8 fours & 4 sixes as India scampered to 156-6 in 20 overs. This is Indian captain’s second consecutive unbeaten knock of 70+ – coming in backdrop of criticism over his form!

Playing XIs:

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal

England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

Match Summary

India 156-6 in 20 overs

Virat Kohli 77*(46) – 8 fours & 4 sixes

Rishabh Pant 25 (20) – 3 fours

Mark Wood 4-0-31-3

Chris Jordan 4-1-35-2