IND vs ENG: Harshit Rana shines on debut as India defeat England by 15 runs in Pune to clinch T20 series

Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube struck half-centuries while Ravi Bishnoi and T20I debutant Harshit Rana collected three wickets each as India defeated England by 15 runs in the fourth Twenty20 International in Pune to clinch the five-match series 3-1 with a game to spare. Pandya and Dube scored 53 each, off 30 and 34 balls respectively, while Bishnoi (3/28) and Rana (3/33) were the pick of the Indian bowlers.

India overcame poor starts with bat as well as with bat after being invited to bat by England captain Jos Buttler at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Friday. The Men in Blue had been reduced to 12/3 after suffering a top-order collapse before seam-bowling all-rounders Pandya and Dube came to the rescue. Later in the evening, England had raced to 62 for no loss inside the powerplay before Bishnoi’s dismissal of opener Ben Duckett opened the floodgates.

Pacer Saqib Mahmood, replacing Mark Wood, was the pick of the English bowlers with figures of 3/35 while Harry Brook (51 off 26) and Duckett’s (39 off 19) blistering knocks ensured they had enough balls in hand to chase down 182 even if they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Jamie Overton (19 off 15) and Adil Rashid briefly revived England’s hopes towards the end of the game by collecting a four and a six in successive deliveries - albeit in different overs. Overton’s dismissal in the final delivery of the penultimate over, however, proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the visitors, and the task was simply too big for Rashid and England No 11 Mahmood.

Earlier in the game, the trio of Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma and skipper Surya were dismissed cheaply. While Samson departed for 1, Varma and Surya were dismissed for ducks, the former off his first delivery.

While Varma had struck a match-winning 72 not out in the second T20I in Chennai, both Samson and Surya have been dismissed for low scores throughout the ongoing series, with the former managing just 35 runs in four outings at an average of 8.75.

Wrist-spinner Varun Chakravarthy, meanwhile, bowled out another tidy spell in which he signed off with figures of 2/28 from four overs, collecting the crucial wicket of Brook along the way.

The two teams travel down the expressway to Mumbai for the fifth and final match of the series, which will be taking place at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, 2 February.

With the series already locked in their favour, the Suryakumar Yadav-led Men in Blue will be looking to make a few changes to their lineup, possibly bringing Shami back into the mix after leaving him out in favour of Arshdeep Singh in Pune.

Brief scores:

India 181/9 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 53, Shivam Dube 53; Saqib Mahmood 3/35, Jamie Overton 2/32) defeated England 166 in 19.4 overs (Harry Brook 51, Ben Duckett 39; Ravi Bishnoi 3/28, Harshit Rana 3/33) by 15 runs.