Suryakumar's ton goes in vain as England avoid whitewash

SCORECARD

Toss: England won the toss and opted to bat

Team changes:

**England –**Reece Topley and Phil Salt replaced Sam Curran and Matthew Parkinson

India – Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan and Umran Malik replaced Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.

England off to a positive start

After poor Powerplay returns of 32/3 and 36/3 in the first and second T20Is respectively, England openers finally clicked in the third match in Trent Bridge. Jos Buttler set the tone with two boundaries and a six in the second over while Jason Roy hit his way out of the rut with a six against Ravi Bishnoi.

Despite losing Buttler, England continued to motor on with Roy taking charge.

Malan, Livingstone go big

India struck back after the Powerplay by scalping Roy and Phil Salt in a span of three overs. However, Dawid Malan took the attack to the Indian bowlers and ensured that the quick wickets did not derail England's innings.

With India bowling with exactly five bowling options, they had no choice but to bowl Ravindra Jadeja against Malan. The southpaw punished the left-arm spin of Jadeja and plundered a fifty off just 30 balls. Liam Livingstone, who was a little slow to start, started teeing off to pile on India's misery.

Bishnoi bowled a brilliant 16th over, giving away just two runs while snaring Malan and Moeen Ali. England, though, managed to finish strong with 46 runs coming off the last three overs and set India a daunting target of 216.

England dominate Powerplay

Chasing a massive total, India needed a strong start but England's bowlers were on top of the game from the get-go. Rishabh Pant was out caught behind in the second over. Virat Kohli too perished after showing a small glimpse of his prowess with a six and a four against David Willey.

India had lost their top three inside the Powerplay when Rohit Sharma holed out in the deep.

Suryamukar Yadav keeps India afloat

Staring down the barrel at 34/3, Suryakumar Yadav came to India's rescue. On a pitch that was assisting the off-pace balls, Suryakumar used his gifted wrists to milk boundaries off the England bowlers. While the rest of the batting struggled to get going, the 31-year-old looked at home.

Livingstone bore the brunt of Suryakumar's brutal hitting, conceding two sixes and three fours off him. He brought up his fifty in just 32 balls and became even more threatening after getting to the milestone.

The next 52 runs came in just 16 as he became the fifth Indian batter to score a T20I hundred.

England avoid whitewash

Though Suryakumar was going all guns blazing, the rest of the batting failed to contribute, with Shreyas Iyer the next best batter with 28 runs. The wicket of Suryakumar in the penultimate over was the final nail in the coffin.

21 runs off the final overs was too tall an order even with Harshal Patel at the crease as England held their nerve and wrapped up the game by 17 runs.