India vs England: Tourists win third T20 by 26 runs to keep series alive
England produced a strong bowling performance to beat India by 26 runs in Rajkot and keep the T20 series alive.
Having lost the opening two matches of the five-match series, England had to win the third T20 to avoid defeat at the earliest opportunity.
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 back-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).