After a series of failures, KL Rahul finally shone with the willow as his impressive 71-run knock took India to a total of 144/8 amid England’s bowling domination at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur on Sunday.
However, England pacer Chris Jordan had the last laugh today, claiming three big wickets and leading two consecutive run-outs in the last over.
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Rahul's last remarkable knock was in the fifth Test against England in December, where he scored 199 runs. His 71 runs off 47 balls made him revive his form as all his last four appearances had left him with a single-digit score.
England bowlers looked on with fire from the start as they trapped a giant fish in the shape of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who was dismissed for 21 runs by speedster Jordan (3/22) in the fifth over.
Jordan’s slower delivery did the magic at Nagpur wicket, making Kohli step up to hit towards long-on, where Liam Dawson made no mistake.
Following Kohli’s dismissal, Suresh Raina (7) and Yuvraj Singh (4) were dismissed to weaken India’s hope further in the eighth and the 11th over respectively.
In the middle-order, Manish Pandey, who lost his wicket for three runs in the last T20I, came up responsively today to steady innings after early jolts. Scoring 30 runs off 27 balls, Pandey put 56 runs with Rahul for the fourth-wicket partnership.
Jordan brought back smile for England in the 18th over as he claimed much-valued wicket of Rahul. He, however, intensified the action further in the last over, leading two back-to-back run-outs of Hardik Pandya (2) and Amit Mishra (0) and bowled MS Dhoni (5) to call for a carnival.
