In the 3rd T20I of the five-match series between India and England, which was contested at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, the latter prevailed by a margin of 26 runs. With the series score now at 2-1, England made a series comeback. For the third time in a row, India chose to bowl first, allowing the visitors to score 171. They were only able to manage 145/9 in response.
Irfan Pathan, a former cricket player for India, highlighted that the squad left “too much for too late” in their failure to win the match.
“The ability to rotate the strike is crucial in the T20 format on slightly slower wickets. In a post on X (previously Twitter), Pathan stated, “India left it too much for too late in the end.”
In the T20 format ability to rotate the strike is very important on slightly slower wicket. India left it too much for too
late in the end.— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 28, 2025
During the chase, the Indian unit played a lot of dot balls, which is interesting. The highest scorer, Hardik Pandya, scored 40 runs off 35 balls. Twelve dot deliveries, one four, and a handful of sixes made up the star all-rounder’s unusual knock. Axar Patel and Washington Sundar struggled in the middle, as three of the four English bowlers who reached their quota scored ten or more runs.
In the fourth and fifth Twenty20 Internationals, respectively, the two teams will now play each other in Pune and Mumbai. England has a decent opportunity of giving India a hard fight in the rest of the series based on their performance in Rajkot. Following the T20Is, three ODIs will be held at Ahmedabad, Cuttack, and Nagpur, respectively. For the next Champions Trophy, the teams will then take flights to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
India
