India take unassailable lead over England in five-match T20I series
Pune/IBNS: India defeated England by 15 runs in the fourth T20I to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series in Pune on Friday.
Harry Brook's 51 from just 26 balls went in vain as the visitors were bowled out for 166 chasing the target of 182 set by India.
Harshit Rana made his dream T20I debut picking three wickets for India while another three were clinched by Ravi Bishnoi on Friday night.
Varun Chakravarthy picked two wickets for 28 runs while Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel shared one wicket each.
Ravi Bishnoi picked three wickets in Pune | Photo courtesy: BCCI X handle
India score 181/9 in 20 overs
Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube slammed 53 each to power India to a formidable total of 181/9 in 20 overs earlier on Friday night.
Pandya and Dube stitched a partnership of 87 runs for the sixth wicket to rescue India from 79-5.
The two batters put up an exhibition of power hits across the ground to deny England an opportunity to wrap up the hosts cheaply.
Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube after completing 50 runs in a crucial partnership | Photo courtesy: BCCI X handle
Pandya slammed four fours and an equal number of sixes to score 53 from 30 balls while Dube hit seven fours and two sixes until England ran him out in the final ball of the innings.
Dube took 34 balls to score 53 in a match where India kept on losing wickets at regular intervals despite breezy knocks by Abhishek Sharma (29) and Rinku Singh (30) in early overs.
Saqib Mahmood was the top bowler for England with a figure of 3/35 in four overs.
Adil Rashid and Brydon Carse picked the important wickets of Abhishek and Rinku respectively.