England delivered an impressive bowling display to secure a 26-run victory over India in Rajkot, keeping their hopes alive in the T20 series.

After losing the first two games in the five-match series, England needed a win in the third T20 to prevent an early series defeat.

Ben Duckett struck a 28-ball 51 and Liam Livingstone hit fives sixes in his 43 from 21 as England made what appeared to be a below-par 171-9 on a decent surface.

But a superb display from their bowling line-up kept India behind the rate and the home side fell well short of their target as they finished on 145-9.

Having been put into bat, Duckett helped the tourists start positively as they reached 83-1 in the ninth over.

But the innings turned in India's favour when Buttler was judged caught behind on review for 24, and Duckett holed out to mid-wicket off the bowling of Axar Patel in the following over.

Buttler was the first victim of Varun Chakravarthy, with the leg-spinner bowling superbly to take 5-24 as England lost 8-60.

India lost wickets steadily through their innings, while Jamie Overton, who took 3-24, was the pick of five England bowlers who took wickets.

Hardik Pandya marshalled the second half of India's innings, but his sluggish 40 from 35 failed to swing the match back in the hosts' favour.

When he was caught by Buttler at long-on off Overton the match was over at a contest, and England closed out the win to still have a chance of a series victory.

The fourth match of the series is in Pune on Friday (13:30 GMT).

England's bowlers keep control
Playing on a pitch that looked good for a score of 200 or more, India's target of 172 looked eminently chaseable.

But England's seamers made early in-roads in the powerplay, as the hosts finished their first six overs on 51-3.

Jofra Archer had Sanju Samson caught at mid-on by Adil Rashid and then made a superb tumbling catch to remove Abhishek Sharma off the bowling of Brydon Carse.

Mark Wood was the third fast bowler to strike, India captain Suryakumar Yadav skewing the ball into orbit before it dropped into the gloves of Phil Salt, who had taken over as wicketkeeper after Jamie Smith went off injured.

Tilak Varma made an unbeaten 72 in the last match to take India to victory, but Rashid bowled him for 18 on the way to a superb 1-15 from four overs, while Overton had Washington Sundar caught by Buttler at mid-on for six to leave the home side 85-5 in the 13th over.

Pandya batted with Axar Patel for 31 balls, putting on 48, but Archer removed the left-arm spinner to leave India needing 49 from 16 deliveries.

Pandya struck Archer for six two balls later but had left himself far too much to do.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1010 HRS, JAN 29, 2025
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