Chahal six-for gives India 2-1 series win

India recorded a 100% series-winning record across formats against England by beating Eoin Morgan’s men by 75 runs in the third and final Twenty20 Internationalin Bangalore on Wednesday (February 1) night. First, a rejuvenated batting lineup helped post 202 for 6, and then it rode on Yuzvendra Chahal’s 6 for 25 to record a maiden bilateral T20I series victory.

Virat Kohli might not have minded being asked to bat after losing the toss for the third time on the trot, given that the pitch, despite some prominent cracks, was never going to be as slow as the ones in Kanpur and Nagpur. More importantly, the dew didn't pose as big a threat to the side fielding second as it did in the first two encounters.

Chasing an imposing 203, England started with a stutter, as Ashish Nehra, who bagged 3 for 28 in the previous game, gave away just one run in the opening over. The pressure led to Sam Billings trying to hit Chahal across the line three balls later, and inside edging on to his shoe before it looped up for an easy catch for Suresh Raina to complete.

With a big target ahead of them, Jason Roy and Joe Root decided to not allow Billings's exit to bog them down, and continued to attack. They took England to 55 for 1 in six overs to set a solid platform for their side, but immediately after that, Roy fell top-edging Amit Mishra high up in the air. MS Dhoni called for it early, and made no mistake in completing the catch to peg England back once again.

Morgan and Root then combined aggression with caution to keep England in the hunt, taking it to the halfway point of the chase inside the 12th over.

Root’s stay in the middle wasn’t totally smooth – he was dropped at point when Rishabh Pant and Yuvraj Singh both went for a catch.

But luck turned India’s way in the following over, as Chahal removed Morgan (40 in 21 balls) and Root (42 in 37) off consecutive deliveries to bring new batsmen to the crease.

At the start of the 15th over, England needed 84 off 36, and though the likes of Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler have all dragged their side out of such situations in the past, on the day, the pressure got to them as wickets tumbled regularly – mainly to Chahal but also to Jasprit Bumrah (3-14). England tumbled from 119 for 2 to 127 all out in the space of 19 balls, with Chahal accounting for most of the scalps, and the look of despair in the English dugout accurately summed up the miserable winter England have suffered in India.

Earlier, like he did in the first two games, and for the most part of the Indian Premier League last year, Kohli came out to open with KL Rahul amid massive cheers from the home crowd.

But the hooting lasted for just seven deliveries before a mix up between the two led to the Indian fans' worst nightmare. Chris Jordan angled one in to hit Kohli's pads. It wasn't anywhere close to being an lbw dismissal, but the batsmen had taken off for a run without looking at each other. Having almost reached the middle of the pitch by the time he pulled out of the run, Rahul put his captain in a point of no return and Jordan picked the ball up in time to hit the stumps at the striker’s end.

With the chips down early in the game, Rahul and Raina got together to put the Indian innings back on track. Though Rahul (22 in 18 balls) was bowled by Stokes, his knock included a massive straight six off Moeen that saw the ball travel 98 metres and over the roof of the stadium at the Pavilion End.

But it took India only a short while to consolidate with Raina and Dhoni and the jitters were soon behind them. Raina, the aggressor, raced to his fourth T20I half-century with a six and followed it up with another maximum in the 13th over to take India's score past the three-figure mark.

Dhoni allowed Raina to do most of the attacking while they were together, but once Raina fell, caught by Morgan off Liam Plunkett in the 14th over, he took the onus to carry on the good work. Raina's knock of 63 came off 45 balls and included five sixes and two fours.

Dhoni went all guns blazing till the 18th over, when the beast within Yuvraj was woken up by the sight of Jordan. Yuvraj got the strike after Dhoni took a single off the first ball of the over to bring up his first T20I half-century in 66 innings, and from then on, the stage belonged to him.

He tonked three sixes and a four to trigger a deafening roar from the capacity crowd, and put India in a position where a 200-plus target for England was there for the taking.

Tymal Mills sent Yuvraj back in the 19th over after a ten-ball 27, but a boundary from Pant, the debutant, and a couple of late blows from Dhoni and Hardik Pandya made sure that the home side did achieve a total in excess of 200. Dhoni scored 56 off 36 balls, his knock studded with five boundaries and two sixes.