England Lost The 3rd T20I For These Reasons


England is undoubtedly the strongest batting line-up in the world. But they lost their third T20I to India, the decisive game in Bristol yesterday by seven wickets. Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten hundred guided India towards the sixth consecutive series win.England Lost The 3rd T20I For These Reasons

However, the English could not defend the total of 198 runs even after a tough fight to post that much total before the visitors. India won the toss and decided to field first but the English batsmen reached the score of 100 runs faster than expected. With the entry of Hardik Pandya, Indians managed to collapse the English middle-order and managed to restrict the opponents to 198 runs. Though India lost Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul earlier, they managed to make the stand of 89 runs for the fourth wicket and won the match by 7 wickets by slamming 201/3 off 18.4 overs.

Here are a few reasons why England lost to India in the third T20I.

  1. Failing to keep on runs flowing

England made a good start. Jason Roy and Jos Buttler added 73 runs for the opening stand. Jos Buttler was dismissed by Siddharth Kaul in the eighth over and no other batsman could give Jason Roy a good hand. Jason Roy slammed 67 runs off 34 balls. However, as admitted by the captain Eoin Morgan, the remaining batsman could not do justice for the platform created by the openers. England lost Jos Buttler when they were 94/1 and within 7.5 overs, they ended their innings at 198 runs.

  1. Adil Rashid’s inconsistency

Undoubtedly, Adil Rashid is an excellent bowler for England. This spinner managed to pick 12 wickets in the five ODI series against Australia. He bowled economically and consistently and a couple more wickets might have changed the result of the game yesterday, according to the experts. He bowled two overs and was the economical bowler after Ben Stokes in that game. He is the main bowler behind the whitewash victory of England against Australia. Though we cannot blame a single person for the defeat of England against India, we can say that he could not live up to the expectations.

  1. Middle overs

England has an excellent batting line up with Alex Hales, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Jason Roy and Ben Stokes replaced Joe Root for the last game. Though England openers made a good start, the middle order could not keep on the momentum. Jonny Bairstow is the only bowler with a strike rate above 150. But he could not live up to the mark in the third game and Jos Buttler is the only player who could give a good hand to Jason Roy.

  1. Underrating Ben Stokes as a bowler

Ben Stokes contributed 14 runs with the bat in the third game. He bowled three overs and conceded only 11 runs. Most of the analysts felt that there might be some change in the result of the game if Ben Stokes was allowed to complete his spell of four overs. He entered the team as an allrounder but his services were not utilized by the team at the fullest. When the Indians needed 10 runs from 2 overs, Morgan might try out Ben Stokes to restrict the opponents since his economy rate was only 5.5.

  1. Slower run rate in the last overs

England had a good start but their run rate fell remarkably after the dismissal of Jos Buttler. They were at 111/2 when they lost their openers by the end of 10 overs. They scored only 21 runs from 3 overs. The stand of Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales was collapsed by Hardik Pandya and by the end of 14th over, they scored just 66 runs. England lost five wickets and scored only 23 runs from the last 3 overs. Eoin Morgan felt that a difference of 20-30 runs may change the result of the game.