Man of the Match: The England wicket-keeper batsman was awarded the Man of the Match at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
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During the third T20I of the ongoing Australia’s tour of India in Ahmedabad, England beat India by 8 wickets to lead the five-match series 2-1.
Chasing a 157-run target, the visitors sealed the chase with 10 deliveries to go as batsman Jonny Bairstow (40*) hit a couple of Shardul Thakur short deliveries to either side of the pitch to hit the winning runs.
Earlier, it was England captain Eoin Morgan who won the toss and invited India in to bat. On the back of captain Virat Kohli scoring 77* (46) with the help of eight fours and four sixes, the hosts scored 156/6 in 20 overs which proved to be a below par total.
With bowling figures of 4-0-31-3, England pacer Mark Wood was the pick of their bowlers. Bowling first-change, Wood dismissed the likes of Lokesh Rahul (0), Rohit Sharma (15) and Shreyas Iyer (9).
Who was awarded the Man of the Match in India vs England 3rd T20I?
There is no hiding to the fact that the real credit for the English victory goes to wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler. Opening the batting with Jason Roy (9), Buttler played in his archetype manner to not give the Indian bowlers any chance of dismissing him especially in the first half of the chase.
Not caring about getting his eye in, Buttler found boundaries with ease from the word go. Considering how the target wasn’t a massive one, Buttler’s quickfire knock knocked India out of the match at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
In what was his 12th T20I half-century, Buttler ended up scoring 83* (52) with the help of five fours and four sixes and rightly won the ‘Man of the Match’ award. “It was nice to spend time in the middle. It was a great team performance. We got some good partnerships to see us home,” Buttler told Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.
