India vs England, 4th T20I Highlights: IND beat ENG by 15 runs to win series 3-1 in Pune

We started brilliantly, taking wickets in the powerplay and we were in a great position at the end of the batting powerplay. We should have gone onto win the game. We did some really good things in the game. We dropped Dube first ball and he went to play a really good innings. With the bat, we were in a fantastic position and lost a couple of key wickets.

It is still a dream debut for me. When Dube came back, after two overs I was informed I will be the concussion substitute. It is not just for this series, I have been waiting for an opportunity for a long time and I wanted to prove I belong here. I have bowled well in the IPL and was just following the same here.

India beat England by 15 runs to win the series 3-1. While how they did it today in Pune if it is fair or not is up for debate they did deserve the wins in Kolkata and Chennai. England will be unhappy with how this series has ended up for them but there are still things to play for. There is still an ODI series coming up after this and they would be hoping to try and clinch that one. Nevertheless, while India played well England too has played some exceptional cricket.

Rana has got another wicket and he has celebrated it. But be it the rule or India's decision to find the loophole in the rule it just tastes a little bitter will this win. Dube has scored a 50 in the first innings and Rana has picked up three wickets with the ball effectively India has played with 12 players today.

Though England keeps losing wickets they are fighting hard here. The lower-order batters are giving a good hoik. From England's perspective, there have been a few times tonight where they seemed frustrated a bit with umpiring calls in the first innings but Rana as a concussion substitute would just take it to a whole new level. Especially in the game where through the chase there just one good over to tilt the balance.

Harshit Rana has picked up another wicket here. It is Jacob Bethell it was a brilliant over from Rana he mixed up the pace nicely and Bethell tried to hit the ball straight but was caught at long-on. Rana has got two now and every wicket he picks in this game will add further frustration to England. As we update Ravi Bishnoi picks up Jofra Archer.

Brydon Carse tries to slog-sweep one through square leg and gets the top edge. England lose six now and it is once again Varun Chakravarthy who has turned this game on its head by picking a two in his final over. Jamie Overton and Bethell are in the middle. They can still do it can England but have to keep their heads. The run rate required is just about 10.

Harry Brook goes after Harshit Rana here. With Brook, one thing he enjoys is pace on bowl and that is what he is getting with Rana. Knick Knight on commentary makes an interesting point about the introduction of Rana would be detrimental to India as that will tempt Surya to bowl him more and pace is what England needs and spin or taking the pace of the ball aka someone like Dube will be difficult to play against. As we update Chakravarthy picks Brook.

Yes, there has been a lot of drama here in regards to substitution but the game is still on. England can win this game. Harry Brook has got himself in and is looking better in dealing with spin today. Especially this wicket is skidding on nicely however, India out of nowhere has pulled an advantage by getting Harshit Rana in who is a decent bowler at the death.

We have an update here Shivam Dube has met with a concussion in the final over and Harshit Rana has been replaced by Dube Rana picks up Livingstone as we update. Is this like-for-like it is up for debate but with the extra seam opting the balance of this game is tilted towards India. This is somewhat similar to what happened in 2020 during the India vs Australia T20 match where Jadeja got replaced by Chahal.

Bishnoi has bowled well today. He seems to be increasingly developing a leg-spinner which is starting to show results. It is not perfect yet but the ball is turning away slightly and is getting that bit of extra bounce. Once he can get the mastery of it Bishnoi becomes a lethal prospect to face in white-ball format.

Buttler is the in-form batter for England and he is gone now. It was a leg-spinner from Bishnoi which bounced a touch higher than Buttler anticipated and the ball went straight to point fielder. England has lost three wickets within four overs and has lost the momentum completely. England needs to rebuild here as compared to India they had an excellent powerplay.

One has brought two for India here. First, it was Duckett of the final ball of the Powerplay and now it is Salt. He tried to give himself a bit of room and hit the ball through the covers but it was classic Axar where the ball just seemed to keep a touch low and skidded through rattling the stumps. Harry Brook has walked into the middle he needs a score does the English youngster.

This partnership is turning into a thorn in the flesh of the Indian team. As we update Ravi Bishnoi picks the wicket. It was a brilliant field set by Surya. He has set the field with fielders behind the square ensuring even if Duckett sweeps he will only get one however, Duckett trying to force the issue in Powerplay he tried to play down the ground and got the leading edge to the mid-off fielder and India gets one.

India has introduced a spinner here and it is Varun Chakravarthy. The ball seems to go nicely off the surface hence England batters did seem quite comfortable in facing him in that opening over. As we update India has put the second spinner into attack in Axar Patel. India needs a breakthrough here as both Salt and Duckett once get going even of them they will take the game away.

The ball is coming nicely onto the bat and the ball is racing away. Maybe the surface was a touch slower in the first innings because of the lack of dew but now not much but with a little dew the ball is just skidding on nicely. Suryakumar Yadav has spinners at his disposal and it might be time to introduce them given how this first three overs of seam have transpired.

We are done with the opening over. Arshdeep Singh pitched a couple up to see if there was any swing on offer and the Salt drove the ball nicely. It will be interesting to see how the pitch plays in this innings as India have lost three wickets early without much help for the seamers. England on the other hand has been confirming that with the way they are driving balls.

That is a cracking final over from Jamie Overton he just gave away three runs and India lost three wickets in it. However, after 10 minutes of India's batting innings this looked way beyond however, that's the beauty of this format one good inning is all needed and Hardik Pandya played. England have not bowled badly but they were a little late to react to Hardik Pandya's onslaught. 

Hardik Pandya trying to hit one through the long-off region got undone by the slower one and the ball went high in the air and Buttler took the catch. It is probably the first time in the evening that Hardik Pandya has mistimed one. Nevertheless, he played a fabulous innings. As we update Shivam Dube gets to his half-century India marching along nicely here.

Hardik Pandya gets to his half-century here. It has been a fabulous innings. He took his time when spinners were bowling however, once Rashid was done and seamers came into attack Hardik bludgeoned the bowling. He is hitting them through the line into the stands and England seamers don't seem to be learning their lesson instead trying to and hoping Pandya mistimes one.

A 50-run partnership between Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube has come up. One thing about Pandya is he brings calmness to the crease and that is what he did in the previous game though India lost and today coming in a tricky situation. Dube went after Rashid when he was operating and now Hardik himself is unleasing the array of strokes against pace.

India needs to get 160 runs here however, will that be enough is tough to judge at the moment as initially though the ball did not do much as it got a bit softer the odd ball seems to keep a tad bit low. This wicket is a mixture of black and red soil hence it is a touch hard to predict how the wicket will play as the game goes on. And only till Indian spinners come in and start it is hard to predict if there is any help.

Shivam Dube has got himself a start here and now he needs to make full use of it. His purpose in the side is to take on the spinners and he is going after Adil Rashid successfully. The thing about Dube is there are no half-measures if it is in his area he gives a good whack and with bats and boundary dimensions in the modern era, the ball flies into the stands deflating the spinner.

Rinku Singh tried to show his authority against Carse and was caught at fly-slip on the boundary. India has lost half their side here and the batting woes of sides in this series continue. Hardik Pandya has come into the middle and India would hope that he will bat through here so that the hosts can post some sort of total here.

It is the first water break of the game and it has been England's game thus far. However, as we have mentioned before it is one of those grounds where the runs come quickly and sixes just fly off the ball, especially on the square of the wicket. India has two decent batters in the middle if they spend some time in the middle India can still hope to get to about 180 runs if these two can bat deep. As we update Carse picks Rinku.

Adil Rashid has been splendid in this series. Though the pacers have been the wicket-tackers he has done the job by just keeping things tight in the middle overs and chipping in with a wicket here and there. While the Indian batters have tried to go after him his willy pace variations and mixing his leg-spinners with googlies have undone the Indian middle-order who are perceived to be good players of spin.

India has lost another wicket and once again it is a soft dismissal. It was an attacking shot no one asked for. Yes, the modern Indian method is to go after the bowling but it should not come at the cost of the situation. The word aggressive cricket just seems to be misinterpreted in modern Indian cricket. As per the dismissal, Abhishek Sharma slog-swept one of Rashid's straight-to-cow corner fielder.

Saqib Mahmood is not as quick as Mark Wood but he tends to skid the ball through and that is what seems to have got the Indian top order in trouble. The shot selection of all three players as per length did not seem bad but the ball seemed to have hurried onto them when they tried to be proactive. However, Rinku stayed on the backfoot and whipped a pull shot for six which just might be the right way to approach Saqib.

It doesn't seem to be a wicket that is doing much it is just three soft dismissals from India. But the way Abhishek Sharma has been driving thus far in this contest he has looked a million dollars. His driving has been exquisite and the notable thing is he has chosen to play the shots along the ground curtailing his natural instinct to use pace and go over the top for almost everything. 

England's tactic of using high pace is increasingly showing results as the series goes on. Apart from the first match in Kolkata where the bulk of the scoring was done by Abhishek and other batters were not exposed to much in the remaining three games the top order has definitely looked shaky against high quality pace of England. Also, the field sets from Jos Buttler has been cracking to set up the batters.

Saqib Mahmood will not believe his luck. First, it was Samson who pulled one straight to square leg and then Tilak Varma came in and charged at one and slashed hard and the ball went straight to Jofra Archer and third-square and as we update Suryakumar Yadav flicked one straight short mid-wicket who was exactly placed for that shot. India has not lost three wickets in two overs.

Jofra Archer has taken the new ball for England and he did stray in length a bit. He bowled a touch too wide which Abhishek Sharma slammed for a six and a boundary. England needs to be careful as it is one of those grounds where the ball flies for six. As we update Sanju Samson pulls one straight to square leg.

The conditions look excellent the ground is as beautiful as ever. Groundsmen expect plenty of dew tonight and India will have it in their mind they just need to be a little careful just to make up those 20-30 extra runs they lose wickets early on. 

'There is always a breeze which blows and it's a pretty strong one. Dimensions - 65m and 64m square boundaries and a hit down the ground is 75m. Pitch - it's 60% red soil and 40% black soil. The red soil basically means that it has a little bit of carry and bounce, so there's a bit more in this surface than the black soil. That'll suit England a little bit. When you have a look at it, it's slightly deceiving, you can see the cracks but essentially we've got a covering of grass but it's dead grass and rolled in. I don't think it's going to play a major role. But it is pretty dry, you can see some cracks emerging, that then will suit some of the pace-off bowlers with their spin. So I am going to sit on the fence a little bit here. There's a bit in it for the pace bowlers and there's a bit in it for the spinners. When you look at the average score here, it's not a high-scoring ground. The curator says that the dew might set in around 8;30 although in practice it sets in around 6:30.'

Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy

Philip Salt(w), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood

We are gonna bowl first this evening. It feels like a great atmosphere already, the series is nicely set-up. Very happy with that performance, we have areas to improve but happy to get the win. Little bit unsure (about what total to chase) to be the honest with the dew, if it will come in or not. We have two changes - Mahmood for Wood, Bethell for Smith.

It is all about coming here and playing good brand of cricket. Stick to the basics. We have left that game in Rajkot. Hopefully we put up an entertaining show for this crowd. Little bit on the drier, put runs on the board and defend. Arshdeep comes in place of Shami, Rinku comes in for Jurel and we have had some firepower - Shivam Dube comes in for Washington Sundar.

In a wider context, Hardik Pandya's bowling career in T20Is is notable. He has bowled a similar number of deliveries as the legendary Lasith Malinga and has taken almost as many wickets (107) as the Sri Lankan great did during his career. This comparison highlights Pandya's significant contribution and effectiveness as a T20 bowler.

The pitch at the MCA Stadium has become less predictable over time.  In its first four T20Is since 2012, it favored slower bowlers. However, in the last two matches played there, fast bowlers have found success. India's record at the stadium is also mixed, with two wins and two losses.  This suggests the pitch's behavior is evolving and making it difficult to predict which bowling style will be most effective.

Tilak Varma thrives on challenges and likely performed even better than initially perceived.  His confidence is evident in his decision to bat higher up the order, even above his captain, who is considered one of the best T20I batsmen.  This confidence is further validated by his century and the captain's subsequent announcement that Varma will retain the No. 3 spot in future matches.  This shows strong belief in Varma's abilities.

Jos Buttler is expected to be a key player for England's batting lineup, providing stability and leadership.  His experience in the IPL will be valuable on what is anticipated to be a fast-paced pitch at the Gahunje Stadium.

Varun CV (Varun Chakravarthy) is in excellent form and proving very difficult for batsmen to play against.  Even though his team lost the previous match, he was named Player of the Match for taking his second five-wicket haul in T20Is. England's batsmen are struggling to find a way to counter his bowling and the variety of deliveries he uses.

The weather in Pune on January 31st is forecast to be clear and dry, with no rain expected.  It will be relatively warm during the day, reaching a high of about 34 degrees Celsius, but quite cool at night, dropping to a low of around 10 degrees Celsius.

Matches played: 27,

India won: 15,

England won: 12

India's recent T20 batting has been characterized by aggressive intent, with batsmen attacking from the very first ball.  They've shown a newfound ability to create scoring opportunities even from deliveries they might have previously played cautiously.  While this liberated approach has been highly successful, a question remained: how would they perform on pitches that restrict their free-flowing style?  Such challenging surfaces are common, particularly in ICC tournaments, and pose a test for their adaptable approach.

Tilak Varma's unbeaten 72 against England, while impressive, wasn't his highest score. He'd already scored two centuries in South Africa. However, this innings against England was more significant.  The pitch at Chepauk was exceptionally challenging – two-paced and difficult to bat on – arguably the toughest the Indian team has faced under the Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir leadership.  This suggests Varma's 72 was a particularly valuable and skillful performance given the difficult conditions.

Hardik Pandya is considered the most effective seam bowler in the middle overs of T20 Internationals since 2021. His variety of deliveries, including hit-the-deck balls and off-cutters, contributes to this.  He leads the pack with 33 wickets in this period, significantly more than other top bowlers like Haris Rauf (27), Mustafizur Rahman (24), and Anrich Nortje (20).

Hardik Pandya's bowling performance in T20 cricket has improved significantly.  Between 2016 and 2019, he took 26 wickets with a strike rate of 21.2 deliveries per wicket and an economy of 8.22. Since 2021, he has taken 33 wickets with a better strike rate of 19.6 and a slightly improved economy of 7.95.  Essentially, he's now taking more wickets, more frequently, and conceding slightly fewer runs per over.

A celebratory moment for Tilak Varma at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.  He's just finished a performance worthy of applause, and his posture with bat and helmet resembles a warrior with sword and shield.  His teammates stand and applaud, allowing him to enjoy the moment.  Even captain Suryakumar Yadav shows his respect with a bow, and Varma and Yadav return the gesture, acknowledging each other's contributions.  It's a scene of mutual respect and celebration of Varma's achievement.

'The way the international T20 game has gone, we allow for a bit of inconsistency and a bit of a lean patch like he's going through at the moment. Gauti (coach Gautam Gambhir) is very keen to back these guys and give them a long road, a long chance to prove themselves.'

Hardik Pandya's growth as a reliable bowler is illustrated by his performance in two crucial 20th overs at the T20 World Cup, in 2016 and 2024.  While the 2016 win against Bangladesh in Bengaluru was largely attributed to MS Dhoni's strategic brilliance, Pandya's contributions were still noted.  His more recent performance in Barbados against South Africa saw him not only secure a win in the final over but also contribute to ending India's ICC title drought. This highlights his development and increased responsibility.

While Tilak Varma's batting style might not be as aesthetically pleasing as Suresh Raina's prime, his recent century could be a turning point in his career.  It also puts him back in the spotlight among emerging Indian left-handed white-ball batsmen.  Despite some imperfections, Tilak's 51-ball century demonstrated his ability to hit big and suggests a promising future.

Tilak Varma's recent maiden T20I century has highlighted a series of uncanny coincidences between his career and that of his idol, Suresh Raina. Both left-handed batsmen scored their first T20I hundreds at number three, were born in November, debuted at 20, and even took wickets in their debut overs.  This century also emphasizes the growing trend of centuries being a benchmark for Indian top-order batsmen.

Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook (vc), Phil Salt (wk), Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, and Mark Wood.

Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Washington Sundar/Dhruv Jurel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Hardik Pandya reached a significant milestone in the previous T20I in Rajkot.  He bowled four overs and took two wickets, bringing his total overs bowled in T20Is to just shy of 300. This achievement saw him surpass Bhuvneshwar Kumar's record of 298.5 overs, making him the Indian bowler with the most overs in the format.  Only 14 bowlers from Full-Member nations have bowled more deliveries in T20Is than Pandya.

India are just one win away from securing the series, which will add another feather to Suryakumar Yadav's cap, who has a 100% record as India captain, with the Men in Blue never losing a bilateral series under his leadership.

After being rested for the third T20I, star Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh is expected to return to the playing XI for the crucial fourth match against England in Pune. Arshdeep, recently crowned the ICC Men's T20I Player of the Year, has proven to be a vital asset for India, particularly with his ability to pick up wickets in the crucial powerplay overs. India will be hoping his return can provide the team with an edge and help them secure a victory. His availability will bolster India's bowling attack as they aim to take control of the series.