Suryakumar Yadav‘s brilliant maiden ton went in vain as England defeated the visitors by 17 runs in the third T20I of their three-match series at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Sunday. 

India, chasing a massive target of 221, lost Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Virat Kohli early. Yadav (117 off 55 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (28 off 23) then joined hands and forged a 100-plus run stand. The visitors remained in the game till the 19th over when Yadav was caught by Philip Salt. India’s innings ended at 198 for nine in 20 overs.

“I thought it was a fantastic chase although we fell short. We are proud of the fight. Surya was magnificent to watch. I have been watching him for a while now. Loves this format, has wide range of shots. He has grown from strength to strength since we got him into the squad. They put us under pressure with their batting. Decent partnership put us on the back foot. You back yourself to get this score. We were clear in trying out guys if they can bowl 4 overs,” skipper Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

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Earlier, skipper Jos Buttler (18 off 9 balls) and Jason Roy (27 off 26) helped England reach 52 for 1 in six overs. Dawid Malan (77) and Liam Livingstone (42*) then shared an entertaining 84-run partnership to set the platform for a massive total.

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Having already sealed the series, India rested their frontline bowlers in Jasprit Bumrah, in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal, besides star all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

“We have things to work on as a group. Hope so. So far things are pretty good. We don’t want to sit on laurels. We want to get better every game. Today was a great learning for us to come out and bowl. And to bat as well. Games like this will teach you,” Sharma said.