India vs England 3rd T20: Last but not the least

Their supremacy restored after a rare blip, India will go for the kill even as an angry England alight at the Garden City with fire in their bellies, setting the stage for a tantalising series-deciding third and final Twenty20 International today.

A 4-0 triumph in a five-match Test rubber was followed by a 2-1 win in Virat Kohli’s maiden assignment as ODI skipper, and the Delhi dazzler would look to translate that result into the shortest format also and conclude what has so far been a hugely successful winter on a high. Trailing, surprisingly, 0-1 heading into the second T20 game in Nagpur, India were helped by a terrific display of death bowling by young Jasprit Bumrah, and an umpiring howler, in staging a fightback in the threematch series.

The defeat in the last game from an impregnable winning posit ion has lef t England skipper Eoin Morgan “extremely frustrated”, and he would desperately want his team to leave the Indian shore with something to cheer about.

While Bumrah’s was a performance worthy of winning any game, having conceded a measly five runs in overs 18 and 20 when batsmen normally go hammer and tongs, umpire Chettithody Shamshuddin’s wrong decision against Joe Root at a crucial juncture stood out like a sore thumb, prompting the England management to take up the case with the ICC.

Replays showed that not only was the ball heading down the leg side, but Root had got a thick edge on it as it thudded into his thigh pad.