India V England 2021 Tour

Much better pitch than the first 2 games. The ball really carried through. As in match one, India lost 3 wickets in the power-play & 20+ runs. Kohli was batting on a different wicket & once he got set he was even able to take down Wood, who had been unplayable in his first 3 overs. They looked short at half way, & once Buttler attacked Chahal in the power-play England always looked in control. Buttler was happy to knock the ball around & in partnership with Bairstow, Kohli was frustrated by quick singles & many well placed shots inside the ring which the scampered for twos. Kohli was also one of 2 fielders to drop a catch.
Special mention for Morgan who was today the first England player to reach their hundredth match in T20 Internationals.

4th T20I Ahmedabad
India v England
England won the toss & elect to bat

England are unchanged & India make 2 changes, Ishan Kishan has a slight niggle & is replaced by Suryakumar Yadav. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who Has been expensive has been replaced by Rahul Chahar, a young leggie, who is playing in only his second T20 International.

4th T20I Ahmedabad
India 185-8 Yadav 57 Iyer 37 Pant 30 Archer 4-33

4th T20! Ahmedabad
England 177-8 Stokes 46 Roy 40 Thakur 3-42 H Pandya 2-16 Chahar 2-35
India beat England by 8 runs

Finally the side batting first puts a winning total on the board. India needed to win the remaining 2 games to win take the series, they had nothing to lose, & Rohit Sharma set the tone by hitting the first ball from Rashid for a six. Youngster Suryakumar Yadav did the same by getting off the mark with a maximum off Archer, going on to make 57 from only 31 balls. Iyer struck 37 from 18 with another assured knock. despite Archer took the wickets & Wood again proved difficult to score off.
India bowled well, but with little spin & the dew factor, Stokes & Bairstow attacked the slow bowlers & got England into a winning position at 131-3, before Bairstow departed, quickly followed by Stokes & Morgan in the same over, which left the lower order with to much to do. Archer, gave India a bit of a scare with some late hitting & very little separated the 2 sides, India deserved the win.

Series tied at 2 each with the decider on Saturday.

At the end of the day England's bowling was poor we let India make 25 more then they should have and it cost us in the end , I really don't understand why ever curren is in the side never brings very much and we have far better then them not in the team, England really need to stop picking people just because they play in London

Decider in the T20 series tomorrow I think the team needs to find a little more fight and play as one unit.

If Sam Curran plays, he really should bowl one or two overs in the Power-Play. If there's any swing with a white ball, it's early. Not bowling him until the 13th or 14 over wont help, batsmen were set at that point & with Stokes bowling 3 he was allways going to get just 1 over. I watched him in the IPL & he was one of the best players, opening the bowling & bowling at the death, batting up the order & coming in late.
Some of the best T20 bowlers are left arm pace, although Sam doesn't have must, but neither did Willey who has an excellent record & was discarded to early. Topley is the other option, but Tymal Mills says he wants another crack at International Cricket, & he would be my choice.
Sam Curran has bowled 10 overs in 4 matches & faced a dozen or so balls, pretty hard to judge. Stokes has to be the best allrounder in the world, but hardly bowls in this form & is yet to score an T20I fifty. Morgan promoted him yesterday & look what happened.
The problem is all the batsmen want to bat in the top 3 in this format. I'm in the Rob Key camp, Buttler would float & come in no earlier than the 10th over. Time to get Hales back opening. Malan eats up too many balls, Root must play, with the World T20 in India, best player of spin, & England can decide between Jordan or Curran & pick 5 bowlers with Root to fill in, if required.

5th T20I Ahmedabad
India v England
England won the toss & elected to bowl