Pune:India sealed the series win here with a 15-run win over England in the 4th T20I on Friday, January 31. India extended their seven-year bilateral T20I series win streak against England.
Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube smashed the fifties to help India to 181 after finding themselves reeling 12/3, thanks to Saqib Mahmood's triple wicket maiden as England lost control of the game at the fag end of their bowling effort and with their run-chase. Harshit Rana, who came as the concession substitute for an injured Shivam Dube, stole the headlines, taking 3 crucial wickets to rattle the England batting lineup.
Opting to bowl first, pacer Mahmood who was playing his first game of the series started with a bang - triple wicket maiden. Despite being under pressure, opener Abhishek Sharma and southpaw batter Rinku Singh counterattacked, but India again lost two set batters in quick succession as they were reduced to 79/5. Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya recorded fifties and stitched a crucial partnership to take India's total over 180. While batting, Overton bowled a brilliant final over and one of his bouncers hit Dube on the helmet, following which the Indian didn't take the field.
In reply, England got off a flier with Salt surviving against Arshdeep and Ben Duckett hitting a flurry of boundaries, taking on the spinners. They forged a 60+ run stand for the opening stand before Ravi Bishanoi got rid of Duckett on the last of the powerplay and were reduced to 65/3 after 7.3 overs.
Harshit Rana was allowed to be Dube's concussion sub and he removed Liam Livingstone on the second T20I delivery. Harry Brook fought hard and kept England in the contest with a 25-ball fifty, but again fell to Varun Chakrawarthy. Brydon Carse also holed out a couple of deliveries later. As long as Overton was out in the middle, England would have believed they had a chance but Rana bowled a brilliant penultimate over and did not give any freebee to the visitors. England were bowled out 166 with two balls to spare in the innings.
However, Harshit Rana, who is a proper bowler, came in for batting all-rounder Dube when another batting all-rounder Ramandeep Singh was available and in the squad, created controversy. Making his debut, Rana took the wickets to Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton to go with a six-run 19th over. This led the England skipper to say "This wasn't the like-to-like replacement" in the post-match press conference.
