India v England: fifth men’s T20 cricket international

Key events

Here comes Jos Buttler for an early swing.

WICKET! Duckett c Absihek b Shami 0 (England 23-1)

Gone first ball! Duckett plinks the first ball he does get to that man Abishek at short cover and he makes no mistake with the catch.

2nd over: England 23-0 (Salt 23, Duckett 0) Salt has had all the strike so far, Duckett hasn’t had a sniff. Hardik Pandya shares the new ball and bowls a decent first effort. England are now behind the rate!

1st over: England 17-0 (Salt 17, Duckett 0) Bish, bash and bosh. Phil Salt drives down the ground and through the covers for a couple of fours and then hoicks Shami high and long over midwicket for SIX. I’m genuinely not sure I have the adjectives or minerals in me for another twenty overs of ridiculous hitting*.

Come off it snowflake. As my old man would say of this live-blogging lark – “It’s hardly like being down t’pit lad.”

Right then, Mohammed Shami has the ball and Phil Salt is on strike. England need the small matter of twelve runs an over, every over.

India finish on 247-9

That’s a record T20I score at the Wankhede. Axar was run out and Bishnoi held in the deep in the final over from JOverton but the lasting damage was done a long time ago by Abishek Sharma.

England’s players are greeted by a smiling Brendon McCullum as they trudge off the field, he’ll have enjoyed that Abishek blitzkrieg and be pumping up his side to go out and match it. England have the talent, they’ve got a few minutes to slurp down some electrolytes and get focused on the sizeable task in hand.

Phil Salt is due a score and Harry Brook has shown signs of getting back to his best. Can they fire after a punishing two hours in the field. Back soon, time for a slurp of something less luminous a this end.

Felix Wood is being a tinker…

“Afternoon James.

What an amazing, astonishing, genius innings by Abishek. But I must say he looked a bit concussed when he came off, might be worth subbing Bumrah in just as a precaution?”

What larks!

19th over: India 240-7 (Patel 8, Shami 0) Wood finishes strongly, just three singles off his final over, he finishes with 2-32 off his four overs. Jamie Overton is going to bowl the final one and then we can all go and lie down for FIVE MINUTES before England come out all guns bruised and blazing.

18th over: India 237-7 (Patel 5, Shami 0) Axar is joined by Shami. Mark Wood is coming on to bowl his final over.

WICKET! Abhishek Sharma c Archer b Rashid 135 (India 237-7)

He’s still smoking sixes, off pace or spin, Abishek is splatting it into the crowd. He nails Rashid down the ground for two SIXES and the goes for a third… it’s up UP and OUT! Jofra holds on to a catch in the deep and one of the great T20I innings comes to a close. Abishek walks off and the Wankhede rises to him. He’s made England’s much vaunted pace and spin attack look like a primary school outfit today.

England’s Ben Duckett, left, greets India’s Abhishek Sharma as he walks back to pavilion after his dismissal. Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

17th over: India 219-6 (Abishek 120, Patel 5) Carse bowls his last and his finally given some tap. Abishek comes to life once more and blooters one over long on and drives along the baize for four down the ground. Axar then clears the front leg and smears down the ground for four more. Seventeen off the over but Carse can hold his head high 3-38 off his four overs.

16th over: India 202-6 (Abishek 108, Patel 0) Axar joins Abishek. Four overs left to go.

“Hi James

Shout out from the TBT Toads cricket team just finishing a 3 match tour of Mumbai. We’re a bunch of middle aged English guys of mixed ability (from ok to very poor).

As I write we are the guests of the charming Chembur Gymkhana who charmingly beat us easily this afternoon. They are showing the T20 on a massive screen and the home crowd seems happy.

Special shout out for our captain Max Lemanski who scored an unbeaten 50 today.”

Thanks James L. Batted Max! I hope it was off 15 balls…

WICKET! Rinku Singh lbw b Archer 9 (India 202-6)

Archer pins Singh lbw, England chipping away and doing their best to limit the carnage.

15th over: India 194-5 (Abishek 108, Singh 1) Rinku Singh joins Abishek in the middle. Five overs left, what can India rack up here?

WICKET! Pandya c Livingstone b Wood 9 (India 193-5)

Hardik pongoes a SIX off Wood but then falls the next ball. He can’t believe it, he’s probably never hit a ball so sweetly in his life as he flicks Wood away into the leg-side and Liam Livingstone does not have to move. Good job because it flew like a tracer bullet.

14th over: India 185-4 (Abishek 107, Pandya 2) Abishek Sharma is still out in the middle but has been starved of the strike in the last few overs. That’s dangerous for England as he can get his breath back and then go again in the final few. Hardik Pandya is the new man. Carse gets out of the over with a wicket and just seven runs. He has 3-21 off three overs. Far and away England’s best bowler this evening.

WICKET! Dube c Rashid b Carse 30 (India 182-4)

Carse gets another! His third wicket of the evening as Dube miss hits a short ball and Rashid clings on to a low catch at fine leg. Carse has mixes up his pace and lengths more than the other bowlers and has reaped the rewards for not being too predictable.

England’s Brydon Carse celebrates with Phil Salt after taking the wicket of India’s Shivam Dube. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

13th over: India 178-3 (Abishek 106, Dube 26) Jamie Overton recalled after his first over went for 25 runs. Dube slaps him back over his head for SIX and follows up with a lovely late dab off a wide yorker in the gap behind point for four. Overton can’t believe what he’s seeing. England are leaking runs faster than an uzi sprayed paddling pool. Wasn’t that a line in a David Gray song? Almost.

12th over: India 161-3 (Abishek 102, Dube 14) Jofra Archer is back into the attack and the boundaries keep coming. Dube pulls for four and then jabs a short arm hook away in some style for SIX. Thirteen runs off the over. There are EIGHT more overs to go! Here’s another list to cast your eye over…

11th over: India 148-3 (Abishek 101, Dube 2) Carse has 2-14 off his two overs. Very impressive in the circs. Shivam Dube is the new man, I’m sure he’ll get a word or two of concern about the state of his concussion.

WICKET! Suryakumar Yadav c †Salt b Carse 2 (India 145-3)

Phil Salt holds onto a swirling catch and blows his cheeks out in relief. He had the gloves on but that still wasn’t easy. A huge top edge from Sky Yadav and his series of low returns with the bat is complete. Carse has two wickets now and has yanked the game back a little for England.

Abishek Sharma gets 100 off 37 balls!

What an innings. Ridiculously pure hitting from Abishek Sharma, he was on course for the record between two full member nations at one point but David Miller and Rohit Sharma’s 35 ball efforts still stand. Just. Kevin Pietersen reckons that’s the best T20I innings he’s ever seen from an opening better. It’s one of the best full stop and it ain’t over yet.

Abhishek Sharma clobbers the ball. Photograph: Surjeet Yadav/MB Media/Getty Images

10th over: India 143-2 (Abishek 99, Yadav 10) Absishek backs away and carves Rashidf through the off side for four to go to 98 off 35 balls. Booo! A single takes him to 99*. Yadav plays a nice late dab for a couple. Ten overs done, time for a drink. England need hooking up to a drip after the last 45 minutes.

9th over: India 136-2 (Abishek 86, Yadav) Suryakumar Yadav is the new batter, he needs a score but will be equally happy to see Abishek continue wreaking havoc at the Wankhede.

WICKET! Tilak Varma c Salt b Carse 24 (India 136-2)

Abishek deposits Carse for a SIX over cover but then chastises himself as he mis-hits a full toss and can only get a single. Gone! Varma gets a thin edge on a slower ball bouncer and Buttler takes the catch. England have a wicket but it isn’t the danger man.

Brydon Carse of England celebrates after dismissing Tilak Varma of India. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

8th over: India 127-1 (Abishek 86, Varma 23) I’ve fired up this list. Somewhere, Sahil Chauhan has got a sweat on? Maybe he is safe but there a few others who might be looking twitchily over their shoulder during this Abishek innings. He crashes Livingstone for two more huge SIXES to go to 86 off 29 balls. Breathe easy Sahil.

Here comes a sheepish looking Brydon Carse, it’s his turn to have his feet held to the Abishek Sharma blaze. Good luck, lad.

7th over: India 111-1 (Abishek 72, Varma 21) Oh Em Gee. Rashid can’t stop the runs. Abishek Sharma bludgeons two HUGE sixes down the ground, the second of which nearly reached thew top tier of the Wankhede, mahoosive. England won the toss and chose to field remember… Rashid keeps the rest of the over down to four singles. Small mercies.

6th over: India 95-1 (Abishek 58, Varma 19) India have racked up their highest powerplay on record. Easily. Won’t someone think of the poor OBO scribe’s fingers? Liam Livingstone is summoned to bowl some of his spinning allsorts and take the pace off. Abishek carves through point for four and Tilak Varma clubs consecutive boundaries to make it fifteen off the over. Here comes Adil Rashid, can he put the skids on? He’s the number one spinner in the world, England need him to show it right now, they are staring down the barrel of a nosebleed inducing score.

5th over: India 80-1 (Abishek 53, Varma 11) Jamie Overton into the attack. Hello Gruesome! He’s greeted with consecutive SIXES down the ground as Abishek Sharma scores India’s second fastest T20I fifty – off just 17 balls! Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen are on the tv commentary together and my eardrums are in real danger of being blown to smithereens. It’s all good fun… just let me find the remote control. Tilak Varma gets in on the act, top edging a SIX down to fine leg and then crunching a four back down the ground. 25 runs off Overton’s first over.

India’s Abhishek Sharma on strike. Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

4th over: India 55-1 (Abishek 38, Varma 1) Abishek Sharma is well and truly on one. He rocks back and pulls Mark Wood square for four and then guesses that the next ball is going to be full he leans forward and languidly drives down the ground for four more as if he’s facing the military medium of Mark Ealham rather than the 90+mph speeds of Mark Wood. Wonderful batting. SIX! Abishek throws his hands at another short ball and gets a huge piece of it, the ball sailing into the stands square on the off side. Wood finishes with a dot but the over has cost sixteen runs and India are flying – 50 up after just four overs.

3rd over: India 39-1 (Abishek 23, Varma 0) Archer is flashed over cover for four by Abishek and then plooped for two over mid off, the fielder not quite able to scrabble back and get under the catch. SIX! What a shot that is – an uppercut outside off stump, the ball wasn’t even that wide – but was flayed away. SIX more! Abishek follows up with a majestic launch over cover! Eighteen off the over and Jofra Archer has been clobbered for 34 runs off two overs. Gulp.

2nd over: India 21-1 (Abishek 5, Varma 0) Tilak Varma is the new batter. England move a leg slip in place for the flick in the air. Wood goes outside off stump and the new batter leaves it alone. A lesser spotted leave.

Roger Binny and Rishi Sunak are in the crowd at the Wankhede. There’s a joke to be made there somewhere but I don’t have the time.

WICKET! Sanju Samson c Archer b Wood 16 (India 21-1)

Mark Wood from t’other end and he starts with a fast and wide yorker that lands inside the tramlines. Dot ball. Wood then tests out the middle of the pitch and is pulled for two by Abishek. These two batters are going to take everything on, be in no doubt about that. Wood is up at 93MPH in his first few balls… he goes short again, Samson pulls away but much flatter this time and he has hit it straight down Jofra Archer’s throat on the square leg boundary. Groundhog Day dismissal for the batter, England set the trap and it is Wood that picks him up this time.

England’s players celebrates the wicket of India’s Sanju Samson. Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

1st over: India 16-0 (Samson 16, Abishek 0) What a start! Archer goes short and Sanju Samson does not mess about, pulling away with sweet timing over midwicket for SIX! Archer licks his wounds and responds by inflicting his own, another short ball spears into Samson’s glove and there’s a delay whilst the batter calls for some magic spray treatment.

Archer has two slips in place and goes full at the pads, a muted appeal as the ball hit Samson just outside the line and the bowler knew it. SIX MORE! Archer tries another bouncer and is swivelled away behind square with the pace on the hook by Samson. Four more flayed away over the vacant third area makes it 16-0 and first blood to India.

Righto, the players head out onto the field. Jofra Archer is going to start with the ball. Sanju Samson is on strike. Abishek is at the non-striker’s end. There’s a short leg in place. Let’s play!

The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted that Shivam Dube is playing today, less than 48 hours after failing that concussion test. Chicanery afoot! No doubt that is what prompted Buttler to list his subs bench. Bit of neeeeedle today at the Wankhede I reckon.

“I caught you listing out your impact subs…”

There’s a pointed and quite funny moment at the toss as Jos Buttler insists on listing his four impact subs with a bit of a twinkle in his eye and the beginnings of a smirk on his face.

Is this a sign of the new mischievous/larky Buttler? He did say before the series that he’d been practicing smiling in the mirror. Seriously. Give him a a few more matches and he’ll be doing witty little monologues like ‘Cinch’ slathered Tony Hancock.

Teams:

India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy.

England: Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.

Mark Wood comes back in for Saqib Mahmood for England despite the latter impressing in the last match and Mohammed Shami replaces Arshdeep Singh for India.

England win the toss… and will bowl!

Joss Buttler calls the coin correctly at the toss as Ravi Shastri’s voice echoes around the stadium like a sonic boom. Buttler says he’s excited for the match, the crowd should be large and loud and they hope there’s a bit of dew around early doors to get the ball zipping.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav says he wanted to bat first so everybody is happy. Nice little mental flex from Sky there. Teams news incoming!

Yes, that is former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chatting with the two captains. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Preamble

James Wallace

Hello and welcome to the fifth and final T20 of this series between India and England. Actually, excuse me whilst I take the afternoon off, I’m not feeling it. Here’s Rob Smyth to OBO in my place. He’s vastly more experienced at this stuff, has more stats and facts at his disposal than almost anyone, is a really quick typer and isn’t hungover/sleep deprived/racked with a perennial nag of existential ennui… you don’t mind do you? Over to you Rob!

I’m being facetious (but truthful about Rob) of course, in case you missed it there was some controversy in the last match as Shivam Dube was conked on the helmet whilst batting, prompting a concussion replacement for India, Harshit Rana came in for his Twenty20 international debut during the England innings. Now, Rana is a far better bowler than Dube, this was no ‘like-for-like change’, as the rules state.

Jos Buttler didn’t go full sour grapes after the match, England should have won the match regardless and squandered an opportunity to tie the series and set up a shootout at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai today, but he made his feelings clear:

It’s not a like-for-like replacement, we don’t agree with that…either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting. It’s part of the game. I still think we should have gone on to win the match. But we disagree with the decision. We’ll ask Javagal [Srinath, the match referee] some questions just to get some clarity around it.”

So the series might be gone but there’ll be a bit of frisson and an England side looking to prove a point coming up against an Indian outfit wanting to put any questions about the validity of their series win to bed with a 4-1 victory overall.

I’m afraid you are stuck with me, Jim here in a sunny south London (i’m not hungover… promise). Play begins at 1.30pm GMT – a little over half an hour’s time. I’ll be back imminently with news of the teams and toss.