England completed a convincing 4-0 clean sweep by defeating India by a commanding 56 runs in the fifth T20I at The Rose Bowl on Saturday.
India’s run chase began well as they pursued a huge target of 258, but it ultimately failed.
Ishaan Kishan (56) and Tilak Varma (53) both scored half-centuries, but India’s sixth straight defeat in the format after finishing 201/8 in 20 overs. With this victory, England unseated India, the reigning world champions, to take the top spot in the ICC Men’s T20I team rankings.
Sanju Samson (27) hit Jofra Archer for two boundaries in the first over to start India’s aggressive answer. Samson maintained the pace by hitting Josh Tongue for two spectacular sixes in the following over, having been brought in instead of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
After Samson (27) cut to cover point off Sam Curran (3-36), Archer, however, broke the 23-run opening stand in the third over, getting extra bounce to have Abhishek Sharma (3) caught behind.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer, who had previously sliced the ball to backward point in the 11th over, joined Kishan and contributed a fast cameo of 28 off 16 balls before stepping out to left-arm spinner Liam Dawson. Kishan held one end with his stroke play and reached his fifty off 30 balls even with wickets falling.
When Phil Salt made a sliding catch off Adil Rashid’s 150th T20I match, his stay was cut short at 56 runs, which included seven fours and two sixes. Varma lit up the evening with a scorching 24-ball half-century that featured four boundaries and three sixes.
Varma was caught behind off Tongue for 53 in the 18th over, while Curran quickly eliminated any lingering hopes of an Indian fightback by removing Shivam Dube (14) and Suryansh Shedge (7) in rapid succession.
In the final over, Rashid then dismissed Axar Patel (3), bringing an end to India’s dismal series after another thrashing at the hands of England.
Brief scores:
England 257/3 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 131, Harry Brook 95 not out; Shivam Dube 2-22, Prasidh Krishna 1-38)
India 201/8 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 56, Tilak Varma 53; Sam Curran 3-36, Adil Rashid 2-24) by 56 runs