Bristol, July 9 (IANS) Skipper Shreyas Iyer played a lone hand with a counter-attacking 80 off 49 balls, but a disciplined England bowling performance restricted a stuttering Indian batting lineup to a below-par 158/7 in their must-win fourth T20I at the County Ground in Bristol on Thursday.

Electing to bat first, India were rocked again by Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue, who started well again with the ball and used short balls to great effect. After that, the rest of the bowlers took over to keep India to two runs below 160, including not conceding boundaries in the last two overs.

With India’s batters again falling to pull shots and not staying at the crease for long, Iyer stood up to lead the batting charge through his unbeaten knock, laced with four boundaries and five sixes.

The sun-baked conditions at Bristol demanded precision with shot selection due to short straight boundaries and longer square boundaries. But India’s strategy to explode in the powerplay backfired against the extra bounce extracted by the England pacers. Openers Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (15) and Abhishek Sharma (16) briefly took 15 runs from Josh Tongue’s opening over, but the recovery was short-lived.

Jofra Archer (2-20) provided the initial breakthrough by dismissing young Sooryavanshi, who holed out to mid-on on a pull. Tongue (2-36) soon joined the party, utilising a short-ball plan to remove Ishan Kishan (4) via a top-edge. When spinner Adil Rashid claimed Abhishek caught and bowled in his very first over, India’s left-handed top-order was back in the dugout with the scorecard reading a modest 48/3 in 6.4 overs.

Captain Shreyas then anchored the innings alongside Shivam Dube (22). The duo stitched a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket, pulling India past the 100-mark. However, England’s bowlers maintained a tight leash on a spongy surface, keeping Dube’s strike rate under check before Will Jacks broke the stand by having him caught at long-on.

The introduction of Tilak Varma (11) didn’t bring any momentum as he fell to Tongue’s change of pace. Left with little support, Shreyas shifted gears spectacularly in the 18th over, dismantling Rashid for two massive sixes and a boundary in a 20-run over to get his fifty off 33 balls.

Just when India looked poised for a late flourish, Sam Curran delivered a brilliant penultimate over, conceding a mere four runs. Archer then closed out the final over clinically, removing Washington Sundar (5) before executing a clever piece of football skill on his follow-through to run out Axar Patel (1), as England now need to chase down 159 for a series victory.

Brief scores:

India 158/7 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 80 not out, Shivam Dube 22; Jofra Archer 2-20, Josh Tongue 2-36) against England

–IANS

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