Twitter Reactions: Shardul Thakur takes Team India fans on a roller coaster ride in a nail-biting thriller

The five-match series will now be decided by the fifth and final game on Saturday (March 20).

By Bijoy

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Shardul Thakur
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Shardul Thakur. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images)

India, on Thursday, beat England by eight runs in the fourth T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad to keep the series alive. The five-match series will now be decided by the fifth and final game on Saturday (March 20). Asked to bat first, India posted a big total of 185 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs. In reply, England finished on 177 for 8.

England’s chase got off to a poor start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent back in-form Jos Buttler for just 9. India, however, could not take any more wickets in the powerplay as Jason Roy and Dawid Malan steadied the ship although the duo could not score at a rate England needed. They added 45 runs off 30 balls for the second wicket before Rahul Chahar castled Malan for 14.

6 runs later, Hardik Pandya took his first wicket of the series when he dismissed Roy for 40 to reduce the visitors to 66 for 3 in the 9th over. But just when it looked like India are well on top in the game, Ben Stokes (46) and Jonny Bairstow (25) turned the game on its head with a quickfire stand of 65 runs off just 36 balls.

Stokes was the aggressor during the stand while Bairstow played the role of the second fiddle. Chahar ended the stand in the 15th over by dismissing Bairstow to give India the much-needed breakthrough. An over later, Shardul Thakur sent back Stokes and Eoin Morgan on consecutive deliveries to reduce England to 140 for 6 and put India firmly on top.

The equation was finally down to 23 runs off the final over and Jofra Archer made things interesting by hitting the second and third ball from Thakur for a four and a six. It was followed by two wides before Thakur conceded a single and then dismissed Chris Jordan on the fifth ball to end England’s hopes.

Suryakumar Yadav stars with the bat

Earlier in the game, Suryakumar Yadav starred with the bat and scored a quickfire fifty to lay the foundation for India’s competitive total of 185 for 8. Asked to bat first, India were off to yet another poor start with Jofra Archer dismissing Rohit Sharma for just 12. Suryakumar and KL Rahul then took the score past the 50-run mark.

But before the duo could put India in a strong position, England struck twice in quick succession and removed Rahul and Virat Kohli to reduce India to 70 for 3. The fall of wickets at the other end, however, did not affect Suryakumar as he kept playing his shots. The right-handed batsman, who was batting in international cricket for the first time, reached his fifty off just 28 balls.

He could add only seven more runs after that before a controversial catch from Dawid Malan ended his knock. Suryakumar scored 57 off 31 balls with the help of 6 fours and 3 sixes. There was also a notable contribution from Rishabh Pant who scored 30 but not in his usual aggressive manner as he took 23 balls for the same.

The Men in Blue managed to touch the 180-run mark thanks to Shreyas Iyer’s fine cameo of 37 that came off just 18 deliveries. Iyer hit five fours and a six during his brief stay at the crease. For England, Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 33 off his four overs.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match

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