India vs England, 4th T20I at Ahmedabad, IND v ENG, Mar 18 2021 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11.41pm Well, that's your lot for the night. A thiller to level the series, after three rather one-sided contests. As Morgan said earlier in the campaign, the side that plays best wins, and well, he wasn't wrong today. England were found out at crucial moments, and India found matchwinners in SKY, Pandya and ultimately Thakur, to take the contest to a winner-takes-all thriller on Saturday. Don't miss it! From Miller, Saurabh, Venkat and the team, goodnight, and I leave you with Saurabh's match report which will appear here shortly... it will be compelling reading, no doubt!

The Man of the Match is Suryakumar Yadav for his maiden innings of 57 from 31 balls, including a first-ball six: "Really happy with the way things went, I'm just trying to be myself inside, talk to myself, keep things simple and it becomes easy inside. The team management and Virat told me to go and express yourself, play like you're at the IPL."

Virat Kohli: "A tough game against a top side, and the dew factor was massive. A few instances in the middle were strange, but 180-plus was what we were looking at, and a special mention to SKY. Guys in our squad are confident heading into the IPL. Shardul turned it around but our Powerplay kept them in check."

"There was an instance in the Test series when Jinks caught the ball and wasn't sure. When there's a half-and-half effort the soft signal becomes more important. I don't know why there can't an "I don't know" call for the umpires. You want these things ironed out to keep the game linear. But we want clarity on the field."

"I ran for the ball, and aggravated my upper quad a little bit, Nothing serious, I should be fine for the game in a day and a half. Better than sprinting for five or six overs, because we have an important game coming up."

"It's not easy to walk in at three and start like that, we were stunned by that start [from SKY], he stamped his authority, big credit to these youngsters, coming in and grabbing the opportunities, you set your standards high, and Hardik bowling his four overs in the way that he did augurs very well."

Eoin Morgan: "India played better than us tonight and thoroughly deserved to win, but the game did ebb and flow. Our journey, trying to learn as much as we can before the World Cup, is important. We were very happy at halfway, and were in control for a long time. Overs 16-17, we lost three wickets in 7-8 balls which is too much against a quality side like this."

"Bairstow and Stokes did the basics well, got themselves in, they managed to negate [the run rate] over a period of time, got back in the game but frustrating not to have one or two at the end there. This decider is the closest we can get to a World Cup or Champions Trophy. All to play for, and winning away from home is more difficult for various reasons, but it would be great."

11.22pm So, we'll hear from Eoin Morgan shortly, but I suspect he won't be too disappointed by that performance. Losing is never fun, of course, but the lessons they'll have learnt are almost certainly more illuminating than was possible in two eight-wicket wins. Is there scrutiny on Dawid Malan now, who has made 80 from from 77 balls in four innings, a perfectly unhelpful tally in this form of the game. At least Ben Stokes was able to get some important game time, but he still hasn't scored a T20I fifty, which is intriguing.

Sampath has the killer stats: "England lost three out of 11 T20Is while chasing since the start of 2020. Margin of defeat in those - 1 run, 5 runs, 8 runs

Subburam : "My choice for player of the match is Pandya. In a game that was dominated by batsmen he bowled beautifully."

11.14pm And breathe. What a squeaky finish that threatened to be. Jofra Archer found his range, and Thakur lost his line for a moment. But he got his act together to close out a thriller, and it's 2-2 going into Saturday's series decider!

So, after all that chat, it turns out it is possible to win against the head in Ahmedabad. India's runs on the board proved too much for England as the run-rate began to cliimb, so hats off to Suryakumar Yadav for his maiden international innings, a thrillingly poised 57 from 31, and India's bowling attack en masse... with Mr Weak Link himself, Hardik Pandya returning the remarkable figures of 2 for 16

"The last over is never easy with the dew coming in, they were swinging hard so it was important to bowl a few dot balls and the game was sealed," says Shardul Thakur. "I tried a slow bouncer, but it [didn't come off]. If the offcutter spins, it sits on the bat nicely, so a knuckle ball is the better option. I am enjoying it a lot, a lot of overs at the death, when batsmen come hard, so I'm getting used to it now."

It has been a good day for India at the All England Open Badminton Championships too as PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen both advanced to the quarterfinals. Read more here.

9 off 2...

Pandya joins the brains trust as India plot their route to victory... Jofra just leans on his bat and looks... well, like Jofra

Ragavendra Sure: "Why is kohli in the dugout?? Isn't he supposed to be not in the field making the decisions?" It's a mystery...

Niranjan: "Pandyaweakestlink. Unlike on air commentators, we can troll you guys so much. Thats why I love Cricinfo" Troll away, it's all fun and games at the end of the day!

Quite the conflab as Thakur and Rohit set their field

Well, it's not out of the question, but it's a big ask, especially against Thakur's cutters. England will need to get their own pace on the ball, you suspect...

Badar: "Andrew I think the phrase weakest link truly applies to England's lower order batting because normally even number 7 and 8 often bail their team out in the end with their power hitting, not so England." They don't have the depth down the order that they are used to, it's true. Bring back Liam Plunkett's levers!

PandyaWeakestLi: "Andrew, Pandya called and he wants you to take your words back" Yep, seems fair! It was the right time to bowl him, is the point I was trying to make, in a hurry!

Well that's a hell of a way to finish his spell. Here comes Archer, who was tonking sixes for fun in the IPL, but you sense this cause is beyond salvation for England now

England are sinking fast here.

Mehul Patel: "3 over 11 Runs and took 1 wicket, how he is weakest link !!" Okay, weakest link is not the word for it... he's probably not the death option though!