Nottingham, July 8 (IANS) Prince Yadav and Harshit Rana claimed two wickets each, but England rode on a 43-ball 70 by opener Phil Salt and some late hitting by Sam Curran (41*) to post a challenging 201/7 in 20 overs in the crucial third T20I of the five-match series at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Tuesday.

Yadav, who was brought in place of Ravi Bishnoi for his first match against England, claimed his first two international wickets in claiming 2-30 while Rana bagged two in two balls in the middle overs for 2-40 as India fought back after Salt and Jos Buttler (38) had given the hosts a slow but good start in what is a must-win match for the visitors who have lost the second match in Manchester after the first game was abandoned without a result because of heavy rains.

They reached 49/1 in the Power-play with Buttler back in the den after being castled by him with a yorker, which deflected off the batter’s toes onto the leg stump, for his first wicket,

The pacer from Uttar Pradesh then got England captain Harry Brook, getting him to offer a catch to Abhishek Sharma for 16 off 12 balls. Rana then got into the act, taking the wickets of dangerman Jacob Bethell (13) and Tom Banton off successive balls as England slipped to 111/4 at the 12th end of the 12th over.

Salt, who had kept going from the other end, raised 47 runs for the fifth wicket with Curran, going on to reach his fifty in 36 balls, hitting six boundaries and one six. He was eventually out for 70 off 43 balls, caught by Arshdeep Singh off Axar Patel. He slammed seven fours and three sixes, claiming 18 runs in one over before Axar had the last laugh.

Curran then took over the mantle of scoring quick runs for England, hammering four fours in his 24-ball 41 not out. Will Jacks struck a couple of sixes in his 14 off seven balls to help propel England past 200.

This is the first time that India will be chasing 200 against England in a T20I, as they need to win the match to prevent the hosts from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series with two matches remaining.

Brief scores:

England 201/7 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 70, Sam Curran 41*, Jos Buttler 36; Prince Yadav 2-30, Harshit Rana 2-40) against India

–IANS

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