3rd T20I: Jos Buttler, Mark Wood Help England Seal Eight-Wicket Win vs India, Take 2-1 Lead

England opener Jos Buttler smashed an unbeaten half-century to help the visitors beat India by eight wickets in the third T20I on Tuesday, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. The win has also helped England take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Tuesday wasn’t a good day for the men in blue as England defeated the hosts by eight wickets in the third T20I to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Virat Kohli’s brilliance wasn’t good enough to paper over an otherwise indept Indian batting performance as Eoin Morgan unleashed his fast bowlers Mark Wood and Chris Jordan to restrict the hosts for 156 for six, which the visitors surpassed easily in 18.2 overs, riding on Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 83 off 52 balls.

It all started when Skipper Kohli had mistakenly said at the toss that his team led 2-1 but Morgan, in his 100th T20I appearance, made sure that the opposite happened.

Buttler in the Powerplay pounced on Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal in successive overs. He played the pacers and spinners with comforting ease, in all, Buttler hit five fours and four sixes.

Another setback for India came when Wood’s thunderbolts at 90 plus miles per hour found the younger Indian batsmen in considerable discomfort and even Kohli’s magnificence wasn’t good enough to save the night for the ‘Men In Blue’.

Although, the Indian skipper with his near-perfect technique fought fire with fire, his partnership with Hardik Pandya fetched 70 runs off just 5.3 overs but it was all about Kohli for the better part as the Baroda all-rounder was struggling to time the ball.

KL Rahul once again could not see the light in the day, while Rohit Sharma who made 15 off 17 balls was knocked off by Wood’s well-directed bouncer.

High expectations from the star of the last match, Ishan Kishan too got knocked of by Wood.

The Indian squad needs to bounce back for the next game to be played at Modi Stadium on March 18 to give neck to neck to the England squad.