It was a bowling spectacle for England’s Saqib Mahmood as he displayed a flawless performance with the ball in the fourth T20I against hosts India on Friday (Jan 31). Playing at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, Mahmood scalped the trio of Sanju Samson (1), Tilak Varma (0) and skipper Suryakumar Yadav in one over to set the stage on fire. This left India in a spot of bother before Shivam Dube (53) and Hardik Pandya (53) rescued India from a vulnerable position.
Saqib Mahmood runs riot
In the second over of the Indian innings, Mahmood was in superb form as he first dismissed Samson followed by Varma to be on hat-trick. He got the better of both Indian batters on back-to-back deliveries leaving India all over the place. Captain Suraykumar Yadav was the next prey for Mahmood as he got the better of him on the last ball of the over, again on a duck.
From 12/0, India were soon 12/3 as they struggled against the pace attack led by the 27-year-old. To add more woes for the hosts, the triple wicket over ended up being a maiden as England were at the top of their game.
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Hardik, Dube rescue India
From 12/3, the hosts later reduced to 79/5 with Abhishek Sharma (29) and Rinku Singh (30) departing after getting starts. However, Dube and Pandya led India’s counter-attack charge as they put on an 87-run stand in 44 balls with both scoring fifties. Pandya’s innings consisted of 4 fours and 4 sixes while Dube’s innings consisted of 7 fours and 2 sixes. Courtesy of the duo, India ended with 181/9 in their 20 overs.
At the time of writing, England were 74/3 as they lost Philip Salt (23), Ben Duckett (39) and Jos Buttler (2) in quick succession.