India recorded a 36-run victory in the fifth and final Twenty20 International against England to clinch the five-match series 3-2 at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday. 

Fifties from Indian skipper Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma guided the hosts to a formidable 224-run total, the hosts’ highest against England.

Dawid Malan, who became the fastest batsman to score 1,000 runs in T20I cricket, top-scored for England with a brilliant 46-ball 68. The southpaw added 130 runs for the second wicket along with Jos Buttler (52) as the visitors seemed to be strolling to victory. 

However, there were no other meaningful contributions from the English batters as India’s pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/15) and Shardul Thakur (3/45) capped off a brilliant comeback win. 

India’s move to drop out-of-form opener KL Rahul, with Kohli promoting himself up the order, paid off as the hosts brought up their first 50-run opening stand of the series. Kohli and Rohit added 90 runs for the first wicket. 

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Rohit set the tone for the innings with his 22nd T20I fifty. His 34-ball, 64-run knock included four fours and five sixes. 

Suryakumar Yadav (32 from 17) kept the momentum going after Rohit’s dismissal, which came after he played on a Ben Stokes delivery onto his stumps. 

Yadav’s marauding innings came to an end after a stunning fielding effort by Chris Jordan – who took a one-handed catch at the long-on fence before lobbing it to Jason Roy to complete the dismissal. 

Meanwhile, Kohli registered his highest score as an opener in the format, remaining unbeaten on 80 from 52 deliveries. Kohli and  Hardik Pandya (39 from 17) added 67 runs from the last five overs to give India a strong finish. 

Earlier, England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl first. This was the fourth time this series that India lost the toss.

The hosts replaced Rahul with paceman T Natarajan.

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Meanwhile, England have named an unchanged side from the one that lost on Thursday by eight runs as they eye a statement series win in the build-up to the ICC T20 World Cup later this year.

Both sides are looking to defend respective unbeaten series streaks in the shortest format, with the home side having gone seven series unbeaten since a 2-0 whitewash against Australia at home in 2019.

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On the other hand, India was the last team to win a T20I series against England, defeating them 2-1 in an away series in 2018. England remain undefeated in eight series since.