Tiebreaker

Bengaluru, January 31

Their supremacy restored after a rare blip, India will go for the kill even as an angry England alight at the Garden City with fire in their bellies, setting the stage for a tantalising series-deciding third and final T20I here tomorrow.

Following a 4-0 triumph in a five-match Test rubber and a 2-1 victory in what was Virat Kohli’s maiden assignment as ODI skipper, the Delhi dazzler would look to wrap up the T20 series as well.

The defeat in the last game from a winning position has left England skipper Eoin Morgan “extremely frustrated”, and he would be desperate to leave the Indian shores with something to cheer about.

While Jasprit Bumrah was fantastic in his final two overs in Nagpur, conceding a measly three runs in the 18th and just two in the last when England needed seven, umpire C Shamshuddin’s LBW decision against Joe Root in the final over stood out like a sore thumb, prompting the England management to take up the matter with ICC. Replays showed that not only was the ball heading down the leg side, but also that Root had edged it before it thudded into his thigh pad.

While England would be raring to make amends after throwing away the last game, it will be a tough task to get the better of the hosts brimming with confidence. Kohli, unbeaten as captain (series-wise) at home in all formats, will be very keen to add more silverware to his cabinet at a venue that holds fond memories for the team — they knocked Bangladesh out of the World T20 with a one-run win here.

Batsmen shackled?

With the bowlers coming good, India don’t have many concerns heading into the series-decider. However, there’s one area where they could probably focus a little more — England’s pace trio of Chris Jordan, Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills, backed up by some excellent fielding, has managed to keep the free-flowing Indian batsmen in check. Kohli and coach Anil Kumble would need to find a way to handle the trio, which has managed to outsmart the batsmen with well-disguised slower deliveries. India’s batting stalwarts — Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina — would be eager to get going and put up a formidable score against the English side that bats deep. — PTI 

Bumrah, Root play down umpiring row

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah sought to play down the controversy surrounding poor umpiring in the previous match, saying both sides will have to move on as decisions do not always go in favour of only one team. “We don’t focus too much on decisions made by umpires. Sometimes it goes in our favour, sometimes in theirs. That happens, so we have to move on,” said Bumrah. He was replying to a query on Morgan’s frustration over the quality of umpiring in the last game. Joe Root, the victim of a big umpiring error, said it was not right to single out one umpire for his mistakes. “I've never had any problems with umpires. As a player you can commit mistakes, you can get things wrong, it's exactly the same with umpires,” he said. He, however, said that had the mistake been made in the semifinal or final of a global event, they would have been far more disappointed.