WATCH: Sanju Samson takes smart catch to end dangerman Jos Buttler’s innings on 24

Suryakumar Yadav won his third toss in succession and chose to bowl first once again. Mohammed Shami was back in the team after over 14 months as he replaced Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI. Jos Buttler who has been England’s best batter so far this series was looking well set on 24 when he was dismissed thanks to Sanju Samson. 

The incident happened in the final ball of the ninth over with Varun Chakravarthy bowling to the England skipper. Buttler went for a reverse sweep and Samson let out a huge roar but the umpire was unmoved. India’s wicketkeeper was convinced that the batter had nicked it and Suryakumar Yadav decided to review with five seconds left on the clock. 

Sharp work behind the stumps ✅

A successful review ✅

Sanju Samson with a fine catch 🙌 🙌

Updates ▶️ https://t.co/amaTrbtzzJ#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @IamSanjuSamson | @IDFCFIRSTBankpic.twitter.com/HkcPLYKiq2

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 28, 2025

TV umpire and the players had to wait for a while before the snicko could come into play. Once the snicko-meter got into the thick of action, it was seen that the batter had got a thin edge of his bat. Chakravarthy who didn’t seem convinced earlier was relieved to get the huge fish. 

Varun Chakravarthy’s fifer restricts England to 171

Put into bat first, England lost Phil Salt early for five runs as he was dismissed by Hardik Pandya in the second over. Jos Buttler and Ben Duckett then added 76 runs for the second wicket in 51 balls as the duo put the Indian bowlers under pressure. Duckett in particular played aggressively as he notched up his first half-century of the tour. 

Axar Patel ended Duckett’s stay at the crease as the batter slog swept the bowler straight into Abhishek Sharma’s hands. England’s opener fell in the final ball before the drinks break to leave the touring side at 87/3. Once play resumed, Varun Chakravarthy ran through the batting order to record his second fifer in the T20I format. 

The 33-year-old got the wickets of Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer in his final over to reach his landmark. Liam Livingstone struck 43 runs from 24 balls with one four and five huge sixes. Three of those sixes came in the 17th over as the England batter deposited Ravi Bishnoi into various parts of the stadium. 

Hardik Pandya picked his second wicket of the night when he got the key scalp of Livingstone caught by Dhruv Jurel. Adil Rashid and Mark Wood scored ten runs each for their side as they added 24 runs for the final wicket to take their team to 171/9 from 20 overs.