India defeated England in a nerve-wracking contest at Ahmedabad to level the series 2-2. Team India was outstanding with the ball today and defended the target of 185 runs even after dew had made its presence felt in the second half.
Eventually, England fell short by 8 runs and the decider will now be played on Saturday. Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur bowled brilliantly under pressure and guided India home. Earlier in the match on the back of an outstanding 50 by Suryakumar Yadav, team India posted a competitive 185 on the board.
India defeat England in the 4th T20I and level the series
Later on the late overs impetus was provided by Shreyas Iyer who once again demonstrated his hitting prowess in the end overs. Here’s what the winning skipper Virat Kohli said in the post-match presentation. The Indian captain praised Suryakumar Yadav for his batting and asserted the new guys will continue to feature in the playing XI leading up to the ICC T20 world cup. He also talked about the controversial soft signal of umpires and hinted that such decisions can have an impact on the overall outcome of the match.
“Poper game against a top side in this format. The wicket was better than any other game and the dew factor was massive, bigger than any other game as well. The wicket allowed us to get to that total. There were a few instances in the middle which were strange, but having said that 180+ was what we were looking at. Special mention to Surya, he batted outstandingly well in his first game. Similar to Ishan. They are quite fearless having played in the IPL. We don’t have any T20Is after this so I want the guys to be confident and come out of it very strongly. With the ball, we were quite clinical. Shardul turned it around but our powerplay start kept England in check and under pressure”.
“There was an instance during the Test series when I was next to Jinks and he clearly caught the ball but he wasn’t sure so we went upstairs. If it is a half and half effort and the fielder is in doubt, there is no way the umpire from square leg can see it clearly. The soft signal becomes that important and it becomes tricky. I don’t know why there can’t be an ‘I don’t know’ call with the umpires as well. It is similar to umpire’s call as well. These are decisions that can change the course of the game, especially in these big games”, said Kohli.
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Meanwhile, here’s what the England captain Eoin NMorgan said after losing a close match in the post-match presentation
“It’s definitely been the closest game so far and India played much better and thoroughly deserve the win. There was a lot more dew throughout the game and the game ebbed and flowed a lot. The swing and momentum of the game went back to India and the the last over made it interesting. We are just trying to learn as much as we can in this series. The progression to the World Cup in seven months is important. Frustrating though then in the end to not get through despite the experience we have. We really want to play in must win games like these. Certainly all to play for now. Playing away from home and winning will be great”, Morgan said.
Unsurprisingly it was Suryakumar Yadav who was adjudged the man of the match award for is match-winning half-century.
“Really happy with the way things went. I have always dreamt of playing for India and winning games for the team. Just trying to be me, I keep talking to myself and keep things very simple. The team management and Virat asked me to keep it simple and do what I have been doing in the IPL all along”, he said.
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