That is end of an entertaining T20I series. England have some momentum going into the ODIs but India will be upbeat about their form too. The games are coming thick and fast. Just one day break for the sides and they will be back on the field at The Oval on Tuesday for a day-nighter. Join us on the journey from 13:00 local time. Goodnight!
Rohit collects winners trophy and his teammates join him for a pose.
Rohit Sharma: I thought it was a fantastic chase although we fell short. We are proud of the fight. Surya was magnificent to watch. I have been watching him for a while now. Loves this format, has wide range of shots. He has grown from strength to strength since we got him into the squad. They put us under pressure with their batting. Decent partnership put us on the back foot. You back yourself to get this score. We were clear in trying out guys if they can bowl 4 overs. We have things to work on as a group. Hope so. So far things are pretty good. We don’t want to sit on laurels. We want to get better every game. Today was a great learning for us to come out and bowl. And to bat as well. Games like this will teach you.
Jos Buttler: Good fun to play, fantastic game. I thought we had a slightly above-par score. Unbelievable innings from SKY. I thought Reece Topley bowled into the wicket and took pace off really well. It was pleasing to see Gleeson back up with another performance. CJ was good too. We are blessed with options. Lot of all-rounders in there as well. We bat deep. It was a difficult decision (to bowl the 19th over) but Mo was keen to bowl, selfless character. CJ has had a great series. Bowled some tough overs and he has looked in fantastic shape and got the rewards.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Player of the Series
Reece Topley | Player of the Match: Some great knocks today, but I am happy to get this award. (About his game plan) Isolate every ball. Different batters, some are set and some aren’t. You just want to come out and restrict runs or take wickets. We wanted to take early wickets. There was an unbelievable knock from their side. I was speechless by some of shots, unbelievable. I am absolutely fit and ready for the summer, long way to go.
STAT: Highest diff bw top two scorers in an inngs for India
89 SK Yadav (117) & S Iyer (28) v Eng Nottingham 2022
69 KL Rahul (101) & R Sharma (32) v Eng Manchester 2018 68 R Sharma (111) & S Dhawan (43) v WI Lucknow 2018
- First defeat for India in 20 matches under Rohit Sharma across formats
- The last defeat came in a T20I against Bangladesh in Delhi in Nov 2019
But SKY at one end played some audacious shots. He knew exactly where Buttler had his men. Read the ball so well and got into great positions to place those shots in gaps. If his square driving wasn’t already good, he went a step further but hitting sixes off the front foot over backward point. Suddenly he was bossing the show as Shreyas played second fidddle. Took on the spinners but didn’t spare the pacers too. If only he got more support from Shreyas, DK and Jaddu, this could have been a different story for India. But they will be so happy with the way SKY shaped up under pressure. DK and Jaddu not finishing may have disappointed them a bit but their fight with the bat was admirable. England ticked the boxes with Topley, Gleeson and CJ. Topley was the sole reason India had to push them harder in the chase.
Source: News Mania Desk
