England 177 for 9 (Duckett 51, Varun 5-24) beat India 145 for 9 (Hardik 40, Overton 3-24) by 26 runs
England kept the T20I series alive with a 26-run win in Rajkot, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton sharing seven wickets alongside a masterful spell from Adil Rashid to help break India's ten-match run without defeat in home conditions.
After being inserted for the third match in a row, England's total of 171 for 9 looked a little light - particularly from a position of 83 for 1 in the ninth over. Ben Duckett made his first T20I fifty as an opener but the middle order was blown away by Varun Chakravarthy and it needed some belligerent hitting from Liam Livingstone, who made 43 off 24 with five sixes, to keep them afloat. An unbroken stand of 24 for the last wicket between Rashid and Mark Wood was the second highest of the innings.
India had crept over the line by two wickets in the second match of the series, Tilak Varma's unbeaten 72 guiding them to a target of 166. But he fell to Rashid for 18 off 14 - his first T20I dismissal in five innings - as India sank to 85 for 5 in the face of more tenacious defence from England's pace-heavy attack.
India only managed to score two boundaries off the bat between the seventh and 15th overs, with Rashid's immaculate analysis of 4-0-15-1 key to suffocating the innings. After battling his way to 23 off 27, Hardik Pandya finally broke the shackles by hitting sixes off Wood and Archer - but when he was dismissed by Overton for 40 off 35, caught at long-off, India's lingering hopes of burgling the chase went with him.
Mohammed Shami, playing his first match for India since the 2023 ODI World Cup final, was eighth man out as the hosts limped through their 20 overs nine down - beaten in a T20I on home soil for the first time since November 2023.
England quicks land early blows
With the expectation that this would be the best batting track of the series so far, England had to make early inroads in defence of a middling target. Sanju Samson didn't trouble the scorers for the second match running, failing to clear mid-on, and although Abhishek Sharma struck five boundaries in his 14-ball innings, Archer was again involved in his dismissal, racing back from cover to claim a steepling catch off Brydon Carse.
That brought Tilak to the crease, his imperious recent form exemplified by an audacious charge-and-slap over cover second ball. Suryakumar Yadav then played his trademark flick for six over fine leg off Archer, adding four more off another slower ball later in the same over. But India's captain was crowbarred out by a 143kph/89mph Wood delivery in the following over as England claimed their third wicket of the powerplay. Only the departure of Jamie Smith, who had been given the gloves due to a "tight calf" but walked off in the fourth over to be replaced behind the stumps by Phil Salt, threatened to undermine England's strong start.
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Tilak sent back (finally)
Gqeberha, November 10, 2024. Before Tuesday, that was the last time Tilak had been dismissed in a T20 international. In between times he had scored 336 runs (off 187 balls), a run that included back-to-back unbeaten hundreds in South Africa and the key contribution of 72 not out in India's two-wicket win on Saturday. With India wobbling at 48 for 3, he loomed as the key wicket - not that he would be giving it up lightly.
It took a piece of brilliance from England's all-time great, Rashid, to end Tilak's run. Tossed up wide of off, the ball dipped and ripped back through the gate with the batter on his heels, rattling middle and leg stumps. Silence rippled around the SCA Stadium. India needed 104 from 12 overs but their aura of invincibility had taken a hit, and they never really got close despite Hardik and Axar Patel attempting to take the game deep.
Shami's comeback
Shami was back in an India XI for the first time in 14 months, and playing his first T20I since the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final - a game in which England cruised to a 10-wicket win on the way to lifting the trophy. The teams' fortunes have diverged significantly since then, with India now the reigning T20 champions and coming into this game with a record of 15 wins from 17 T20Is since last year's World Cup in the Caribbean.
Shami was deep in rehab during most of that run but finally made his return in Rajkot, with India opting to rest Arshdeep Singh. His first ball drew a swing and a miss from Salt, while his second was mistimed with enough power to go for four down the ground during an opening over that cost six runs. After Salt fell to Hardik, plinking to cover, Jos Buttler was beaten by a classic Shami outswinger - seam bolt upright like a rudder - before Duckett ramped the last ball of an initial two-over spell for six.
He later returned to bowl the 19th over, with England nine down. There was to be no comeback wicket, however, as Rashid deftly steered him for four before Wood had to dodge a beamer that earned Shami a warning from the umpire.
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Duckett sets tempo
In his fourth outing as an opener in this format for England, Duckett finally produced a score of note. His 26-ball half-century had England sizing up a total in excess of 200 - but a tame dismissal in the same over trying to launch Axar over midwicket played a significant part in their disastrous mid-innings collapse.
Coming into this game on the back of consecutive single-figure scores, Duckett quickly set about rebalancing the ledger. He glanced Hardik for a boundary off his third ball, followed up by scooping Shami and then opened up the throttle even further to give England a promising base in the powerplay. Hardik was taken for three consecutive fours at the end of his second over, before the introduction of spin in the form of Washington Sundar was greeted by Duckett going 4-4-dot-6.
Duckett had struck eight of his first 13 balls to the boundary, although a quiet first over from Varun was a harbinger of things to come as England ended the powerplay on 52 for 1. Ravi Bishnoi was hit for four and six off consecutive balls by Buttler but the spinners began to exert control for India once again. Buttler tickled a fine edge behind off Varun - detected on DRS - to end a partnership of 76 off 45, and Duckett then holed out in the following over to leave England's middle order with a rebuilding job.
Varun runs through England
Varun was already the leading wicket-taker in the series, with five from the first two games, but he doubled his money as England once again folded like Superman on laundry day during the middle overs. Having removed Buttler with the final ball of the ninth over, he returned to bowl the 14th and 16th and pick up four more wickets at a cost of 12 runs, putting the seal on England's disastrous slide of 7 for 44 in 7.1 overs of undignified thrashing.
Harry Brook was fourth out, dragging a sweep off Bishnoi into his stumps. Smith then went six and out - although Varun might have been a touch fortunate as his drag down ended up in the hands of deep midwicket. Overton's difficult tour with the bat continued as he missed an attempted paddle to be bowled behind his legs first ball, Carse holed out to deep square leg and Archer was bowled by a well-disguised googly as Varun completed his second five-for in T20Is.
