Birmingham: Chasing a daunting target of 181, India were not able to pull the only T20 international against England in their way till the last ball of the match played at Edgbaston, Sunday.
India needed 17 runs in the final over of the match and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni started with a six and a boundary to leave five off two balls.
Dhoni refused a single off the penultimate delivery and India ended at 177 for five thus losing the match on the last ball by 3 runs.
A positive for India was Virat Kohli (66 off 44) who struck his first fifty of the two-month long England tour on the final match of the series.
India made a poor start as they lost Ajinkya Rahane (8) in the second over. The batsman was bowled round his legs by Moeen Ali (1-31). Then Kohli came to the crease and along with Shikhar Dhawan (33), he put on 79 runs for the second wicket. The runs came off just 53 balls at 8.94 runs per over as the power-play brought 53 runs for the loss of a solitary wicket.
Wickets of Kohli and Raina at crucial times cost India the match. India also dropped to second position in the ICC T20 rankings after this defeat. They now have 126 points with Sri Lanka sitting on top with 131 points.
Squads:
England: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Jos Buttler(w), Ravi Bopara, Chris Woakes, James Tredwell, Steven Finn, Harry Gurney
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Karn Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami
Here are the live updates:
