Varun's fifer not enough as England get vital win

Spinner shines but visitors clinch 3rd T20I in Rajkot to stay in hunt

- GOMESH S

WHEN Varun Chakravarthy was getting ready to finish his second over of the match at Rajkot, Jos Buttler and Ben Duckett had already laid the platform for a big total at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Tuesday. It was the last ball of the ninth over and the scoreboard read 83/1.

While the rate at which England were going made it seem like even 200 might be sub par on this pitch, the first over of Varun had shown enough to know that it had something for the bowlers. Having been in tremendous form since his comeback, Varun had made Buttler and Duckett dance to his tunes in the last over of the powerplay. It saw England manage only three runs, finishing with 52/1 from the first six.