Top 3 T20I batting performances by Team India against England
With the four-match Test series captured 3-1, Team India will now be keen to make a mark in the five-match T20I series against England at home.
The white-ball event, which kicks off on March 12 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, will be significant because the T20 World Cup will be held in India later this year.
In terms of head to head in the T20I format, Team India and England are pretty evenly matched. Both teams have won seven games apiece in 14 previous meetings.
In six T20Is between the two teams on Indian soil, Team India and England have triumphed thrice apiece.
Three most impressive batting displays by Team India against England
In the relatively short T20 rivalry between the two sides, there have been some impressive batting performances by Team India players. On that note, we take a look at three of them.
#3 Rohit Sharma (100 not out off 56 balls in Bristol, 2018)
During the third T20I of India’s tour of England in 2018, Rohit Sharma hammered a brilliant unbeaten 100 as Team India aced a chase of 199 with eight balls to spare.
The Indian opener controlled the chase perfectly, hitting 11 fours and five sixes in his 56-ball knock to help Team India get home by eight wickets.
Sharma punished an England attack comprising David Willey, Jake Ball, Chris Jordan, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid.
After Team India lost Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul cheaply in their chase, Rohit Sharma combined with Virat Kohli (43 off 29) and Hardik Pandya (33 not out off 14) to help Team India script a memorable triumph.
Earlier, England’s total of 198 for 9 was built around Jason Roy’s 31-ball 67. The knock, however, faded in comparison to Rohit Sharma's, as Team India clinched the three-match series 2-1.
#2 KL Rahul (101 not out off 54 balls in Manchester, 2018)
KL Rahul smashed a terrific 101 not out off only 54 balls in the first T20I of the three-match series against England in 2018.
Needing to chase down 160 to win the match, Rahul ensured Team India got home without any hiccups. He blasted ten fours and five sixes and scored at a terrific strike rate of 187.04 as Team India romped home by eight wickets and ten balls to spare.
Rahul looked in no trouble at all against the likes of Liam Plunkett and Moeen Ali, who went for 42 in four and 37 in 2.2 overs, respectively.
After Team India lost Dhawan for four, Rahul and Rohit Sharma (32 off 30) featured in a second-wicket stand of 123. After Sharma's departure, Kohli (20 not out) and Rahul took India home with ease.
Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav shone with a five-for, helping Team India restrict England to 159 for 8 despite Jos Buttler’s 69 off 46 balls.
#1 Yuvraj Singh (58 off 16 balls in Durban, 2007)
It was nowhere near a hundred. But Yuvraj Singh’s 16-ball 58 in the 2007 T20 World Cup encounter against England in Durban will have its pride of place.
The game will remain etched in the history books, as it marked the first instance of a player hitting six sixes in an over in a T20I match. Poor Stuart Broad had to pay for Andrew Flintoff’s altercation with Yuvraj Singh, which had left the left-hander seething.
In the 19th over of the Indian innings, Yuvraj Singh dispatched all six balls from Broad over the ropes, in the process bringing up the fastest fifty (12 balls) in T20I cricket.
How rare an achievement Yuvraj Singh’s feat was can be gauged from the fact that Kieron Pollard recently became only the second player to smash six sixes in a T20I game. He did so against Sri Lanka in Antigua.
Coming back to the Durban encounter, Team India posted 218 for 4 batting first. Apart from Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag contributed 68 off 52, while Gautam Gambhir made 58 off 41.
England managed 200 in response as Vikram Solanki scored 43 off 31, and Kevin Pietersen 39 off 23. Irfan Pathan and RP Singh stood out for Team India with the ball, registering figures of 3 for 37 and 2 for 28, respectively.