India vs England 2025: Saqib Mahmood rocks India with triple-wicket maiden in Pune

Saqib Mahmood wasted no time in getting amongst the wickets during the fourth T20I between India and England at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Coming in for Mark Wood, he made an instant impact after coming on to bowl in the second over of the game.

Banged in short and towards Sanju Samson's body, all the wicketkeeper-batter managed to do was pull Mahmood to the fielder at deep square leg. Interestingly, this marked the fourth time on the trot that the opener was dismissed in the same manner. The star of the second T20I, Tilak Varma, was dismissed on the very next delivery. The southpaw charged at the 27-year-old pacer, only to send a thick outside edge flying to deep-third where Jofra Archer completed a stunning catch. The final delivery of the over brought sent Suryakumar Yadav back to the shed for a three-ball duck.

The raucous sea of spectators at the MCA Stadium was understandably shushed into an eerie void of silence. This was arguably the first time the batting lineup of India fell like a pack of cards in the 20-over format in a long time. This was the first instance of any bowling registering a triple-wicket maiden against India in T20Is.

Also Read: IND vs ENG 2025: Why is Mohammed Shami not playing 4th T20I against England 2025?

Rashid breaks promising stand between Abhishek, Rinku

After the setback, the left-handed duo of Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh took charge of England. The two led India to a respectable 47/3 at the end of the first powerplay.

However, Adil Rashid struck with the vital wicket of Abhishek on the second delivery of his spell. After being crunched through extra cover, Rashid's clever change of pace drew Abhishek into pulling the ball straight into the hands of Jacob Bethell at deep midwicket. At the time of writing, India are 72/4 at the end of 10 overs.