Sussex pair can't prevent England being blasted by India in T20 decider

Welcome to another week of Sussex Winter Watch where we take a look at how Sussex players are getting on around the world. The past week featured three Sharks continuing their international ventures and two former Sharks finish their unique tour of India.
Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan, with Eoin Morgan and Mark Wood, try to work out how to stop India's batsmen dominating the final T20 of the series / Picture: GettyJofra Archer and Chris Jordan, with Eoin Morgan and Mark Wood, try to work out how to stop India's batsmen dominating the final T20 of the series / Picture: Getty
Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan, with Eoin Morgan and Mark Wood, try to work out how to stop India's batsmen dominating the final T20 of the series / Picture: Getty

Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan were again in action for England as they continued their T20I series versus India. With the series poised at 1-1 going into the third game at Ahmedabad, the pair had to pull out all the stops to put England ahead in the series again.

India batted first and were restricted to 156/6, with Jordan one of the main players to do the damage, removing Ishan Kishan for four in the early stages before dismissing Hardik Pandya for 17 from the final ball of the innings to finish with figures of 2-35 from four overs.

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Archer was unable to take any wickets but as always was economical, finishing with figures of 0-26 from his allocation. In another easy chase, England comfortably reached the target of 157 to win by eight wickets to go 2-1 up.

The fourth T20I saw Archer break a personal milestone that he had broken only three matches before, as, during India’s first innings score of 185/8, the fast bowler took another set of career-best T20I figures, finishing with 4-33 from four overs.

Archer removed Rohit Sharma (12), Rishabh Pant (30), Shreyas Iyer (37) and Washington Sundar (0) in his spell to help England as most bowlers struggled, including Jordan who went for 0-41 from his four overs. For the first time in the series, both players got an outing with the bat - but were unable to help England to victory.

Jordan scored 12 from nine balls and Archer almost capped off a perfect game for himself when he struck two consecutive boundaries to keep the game alive in the final over but he was only able to score 18 from eight balls as England lost by eight runs.

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It meant the series went to the final game to decide the winners. India batted first and destroyed England’s bowling attack, racking up a monster 224/2 with Archer and Jordan going wicketless at combined figures of 0-100 from eight overs. Neither could do much with the bat, Jordan scoring 11 and Archer just one as England were beaten by 36 runs to hand the series to India 3-2.

Rashid Khan looked to keep up his winning form for Afghanistan as they began their three-match T20I series versus Zimbabwe. It started well for Rashid and Afghanistan as the leg-spinner made seven from three balls in a total of 198/5 before taking figures of 3-28 from four overs to help restrict Zimbabwe to 150/7, to secure victory for his country by 48 runs.

The next game saw Rashid star again, first scoring nine from five balls in Afghanistan’s total of 193/5 before taking another three wickets, finishing with figures of 3-30 three overs to help seal the series 2-0 as his country won by 45 runs. The final game saw Rashid suffer a rare blip in form, scoring a golden duck and going wicketless at 0-18 but he was still a vital contributor in the series, Afghanistan winning the final game by 47 runs and sealing a 3-0 whitewash.

Monty Panesar and James Tredwell finished their tour of India with England Legends as they took on West Indies Legends in the final game of the series. After England had made 186/3, Tredwell and Panesar looked to put a stop to the Windies chase, the former taking two wickets including the captain Brian Lara for just one.

However, neither were able to stop a final ball victory for the West Indies as they won by five wickets, with Tredwell finishing with figures of 2-35 and Panesar, 0-27 from his allocation.