England vs India, 3rd T20I: 5 plays of the game you might have missed 

The 3rd T20I was the deciding match of the series and it was a very hard fought one, as India were set a target of 199 to chase by a dominant English batting performance. However, Rohit Sharma’s 56-ball hundred and Pandya’s finishing blitz took the game away from them towards the end of the Indian innings. With a riveting start to the long Indian tour of England, expectations are high for the upcoming 3 match ODI series and 5 match Test series.

Here are some of the plays from the 3rd T20I that you might’ve missed:

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Hardik Pandya’s comeback

hat man Hardik Pandya. He was introduced into the attack in the 6th over of the English innings that was off to a rapid start scoring 51 runs in the first 5 overs. This move backfired for captain Virat Kohli as Hardik was taken for 22 runs in his first over, with Jason Roy smashing his first 4 balls for 20 runs.

Hardik was taken off the attack for a few overs after the disastrous first over and bowled the 12th over. Hardik’s next 3 overs went for only 16 runs, and he picked up a whopping 4 wickets in his last two.

If the 4 wickets were not enough for him to hurt England’s chances in the 3rd T20I, he played a very handy innings with the bat as well to lead India home. Promoted ahead of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, Pandya had the cushion of established finishers to come in if his wicket fell and this gave him lots of freedom to play his shots.

After seeing off the first delivery from Chris Jordan, Pandya launched into an assault against the English attack that was both brutal and elegant in his 14-ball 33. The wide yorker plan was decently effective against the Indian batsmen until Pandya came in to bat, deftly guiding the wideish deliveries through backward point to find the boundary repeatedly. They then switched to bowling at his body and he hit those for fours and sixes as well.

It truly was an incredible day for Hardik Pandya as he led India to victory with Rohit Sharma’s magnificent hundred.

Chahal drops, Dhoni falls

Chahal dropped a catch and injured himself in the process

The 14th over of the English innings was a rather eventful one. A drop, a catch, 2 plays and misses, a six and another wicket. All in one over.

The over started off with Yuzvendra Chahal misjudging a skier off Morgan’s bat rather badly, and in addition to dropping the catch, he fell down and knocked the back of his head in a whiplash-like movement. Chahal had to be taken off the field as he looked to be in considerable pain, but luckily for India, the star leggie had already bowled out his quota of overs in the preceding over.

Dhoni completed the catch but tumbled in the process

The very next ball, Morgan skied the ball yet again and it went straight up. Dhoni called for the catch and completed it, but it was so close to the stumps that he ran through them right after the ball settled in his gloves. Dhoni took a tumble but all was under control as he got up flashing a grin.

Contrasting fortunes on the field

Chris Jordan took one of the great catches

There was a marked discrepancy between the fielding of both sides in this game. Leading up to the game, both outfits were regarded as excellent fielding sides but only England lived up to that reputation.

India put down an easier chance and a couple of tougher chances were dropped by Deepak Chahar and Siddarth Kaul, which would have been spectacular catches if either had been taken. At one point, it felt as if the only person who could take a catch was MS Dhoni, who had taken all the catches until Stokes’ wicket fell to a catch by Kohli. Dhoni had a great outing behind the stumps, taking 5 catches and effecting a run out off the last delivery of the English innings.

Contrastingly, taking such difficult catches is exactly what England did. Jake Ball took a screamer to his left to remove Shikhar Dhawan, and Chris Jordan took two unbelievable catches as well. Sprinting to his right from long on, Jordan dived full length to complete the catch of the in-form KL Rahul near the edge of the midwicket boundary. If that wasn't enough, he went on to take a stunning return catch against the Indian captain who smacked a straight drive back at the bowler.

Stokes’ bat flies

Stokes' bat went off on a journey

Batsmen losing control of their bats is not the rarest sight in cricket, especially the shorter formats, but always is amusing to watch. Ben Stokes lined up for an almighty heave against Kaul but managed to lose grip of his bat as it went flying towards the leg side. Luckily for Stokes, he still managed to make good contact with the ball and luckily for the other players on the field, the bat stayed away from their heads.

Ridiculous Shots

A shot to remember!

There were some ridiculous shots played by batsmen from both sides in last night’s showdown.

Jonny Bairstow and Virat Kohli smacked sixes over cover off almost perfect wide yorkers, with Kohli demonstrating his rendition of Dhoni’s famed helicopter shot while losing his balance. Rohit Sharma and Ben Stokes too played some late swats over the leg side, with Stokes ramping the ball inches away from his stumps and Rohit Sharma moving across his stumps to ramp flick a wide yorker over fine leg!