Team India suffered a comprehensive 26-run defeat in the third T20I of the five-match series against England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot on Tuesday (January 28).

Invited to bat first, the visitors posted 171/9 on the board, courtesy of Ben Duckett’s 51 off 28 balls and Liam Livingstone’s 43 off 24 balls.

Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers for India, returning with the figures of 5 for 24 in his four overs.

In reply, the hosts were restricted to 145/9 in 20 overs. It was a disappointing show with the bat as only Hardik Pandya managed to touch the 40-run mark.

Jamie Overton (3-24 in 4 overs), Brydon Carse (2-28 in 4 overs), Jofra Archer (2-33 in 4 overs), Adil Rashid (1-15 in 4 overs) and Mark Wood (1-29 in 3 overs) were among the wickets for England.

After the loss, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav said he thought there would be more dew as the evening went on and also praised English leg-spinner Rashid’s performance with the ball.

“I felt there would be little dew later in the day. I feel we had the game in our hands when Hardik and Axar were batting. Credit goes to Adil Rashid, he bowled really well. That's why he is a world class bowler. He didn't allow us to rotate the strike. That's why we had a lot of spinners in our side as well,” Suryakumar said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Suryakumar added that there’s always a lesson to be learnt from T20 games and expressed his delight with the return of veteran pacer Mohammad Shami, who made his first international appearance since the 2023 World Cup final.

While Shami failed to take a wicket in his comeback match, he conceded 25 runs in his three overs.

“We always learn something from a T20 game. We got to learn from the batting point of view. Got to go back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes. I am sure Shami will do better going forward,” Surya remarked.

The Indian captain was effusive in praise of Chakravarthy, who has proved to be a nemesis for the England batters in the ongoing T20I series.

“He (Varun Chakravarthy) has been working really hard during practice sessions. He is disciplined and he's getting those results on the field as a result of that hard work,” Surya concluded.

The five-match T20I series currently stands at 2-1 in favour of India. The penultimate game will be played in Pune on Friday (January 31).