Phil Salt overcame an initial struggle to smash a 44-ball 70, helping England post a competitive 201 for 7 against India in the third T20 International at Nottingham on Tuesday.
The Indian pace unit put up an impressive show, led by the Delhi duo of Harshit Rana (2/40) and debutant Prince Yadav (2/30), who picked up crucial wickets. However, the same could not be said about the veteran spin pairing of Axar Patel (1/49) and Varun Chakravarthy (0/35), who failed to contain the runs.
Later in the innings, all-rounder Sam Curran used the long handle effectively, smashing an unbeaten 41 off 24 balls to propel England past the 200-run mark. England will be pleased with their final total, especially considering they were struggling at 111 for 4 after 12 overs before hammering 89 runs in the final eight overs.
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh started brilliantly for India, bowling a maiden over to Salt while India also burnt a DRS review. While Salt looked scratchy early on, his opening partner Jos Buttler got off the blocks quickly. Buttler hit a flurry of boundaries and sixes off Rana and Axar, racing to 36 off 21 balls before Prince Yadav cleaned him up with a perfect yorker on his very first ball in international cricket.
Harry Brook hit a nice lofted punch over covers off Prince for a boundary, but the young Indian bowler had the last laugh when Brook mistimed a pull shot, allowing Abhishek Sharma to take a well-judged catch at the deep mid-wicket boundary.
Following Brook’s dismissal, Salt finally found his rhythm, launching Chakravarthy for a six. He then took Axar to the cleaners during a quick 40-run partnership with Jacob Bethell that came off just 21 balls. Harshit Rana broke the momentum by removing both Bethell and Tom Banton off successive deliveries.
Despite his early Powerplay struggles, Salt kept finding the ropes and reached his half-century off 36 balls, which is slow by his explosive standards.
Once he crossed fifty, he unleashed his trademark big hits, pulling Arshdeep over the deep square-leg fence and flicking him for another boundary. In total, Salt hit seven fours and three sixes before Axar removed him just as he looked ready for a final assault. However, Curran stepped up, smashing both Harshit and Axar in the death overs to guide England to a strong total.
India Vs England, 3rd T20I Toss update: Playing XIs
England XI: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (WK), Harry Brook (C), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue
India XI: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.
