A magnificent maiden century in the format for Suryakumar Yadav was not enough for India to prevent a 17-run loss at the hands of England in the third and final T20I at Nottingham, which also denied them an opportunity to inflict a clean sweep on the hosts. India, who had won the first two T20Is of the series comprehensively, eventually settled for a 2-1 series win.
The two teams will now focus their attention on a three-match One-Day International (ODI) series starting on July 12.
In the high-scoring third match of the series played on Sunday night in Trent Bridge, England managed to record a consolatory win after posting a steep total of 216/7 in their 20 overs, against which India could only score 198/9 with more than half of those runs coming off Suryakumar Yadav’s bat.
The right-handed batting star of India and Mumbai Indians was at his supreme best, producing a knock which was worthy of all praise. Suryakumar Yadav hammered as many as 14 boundaries and 6 sixes to score 117, which came from only 55 balls.
There was no other batsman in the Indian side who either provided Suryakumar with ample support or take the attack top the opposition. Rohit Sharma fell for 11, Rishabh Pant was dismissed for 1 while Virat Kohli fell after scoring 11.
It was yet another awkward outing for the former India captain and once a run machine, Virat Kohli, who looked both sublime and ordinary in his 6-ball stay in the middle during which he hit a four and six.
For England, Reece Topley was the pick among the bowlers as he returned with figures of 4-0-22-3 while the others in David Willey and Chris Jordan claimed 2 wickets each.
India remained in the contest right until the penultimate over of the contest, when Suryakumar was dismissed by Moeen Ali in a bid to get quick runs and win the game for his side.
Earlier in the match, Dawid Malan scored 77 and Liam Livingstone scored 42 not out to power England to a strong total of 216/7 in their 20 overs. The former world No 1 batsman in the format, Dawid Malan was fluent in his innings, smacking 5 sixes and 6 fours to make 77 from only 39 balls while Liam Livingstone hammered 4 sixes to make a 29-ball 42.
For India, Ravi Bishnoi claimed 2/30 from his 4 overs but where the visiting team perhaps lost the contest was in the first innings, when their budding fast bowler Umran Malik ended up giving away 56 runs from his 4 overs for just one wicket.
Earlier on Saturday night, India had sealed the fate of the series in their favour by winning the second T20I in Birmingham by 49 runs. Ravindra Jadeja’s 46 not out powered India to a competitive 170/8, and a superb spell from Bhuvneshwar Kumar — 3-1-15-3 — laid the foundation of the win. England were bowled out for 121 in 17 overs.