BRISTOL, England : England secured their first-ever Twenty20 international series victory over India on Thursday, cruising to a seven-wicket win with 37 balls to spare to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match contest.
Chasing 159, England raced to 162-1 in just 13.5 overs as Phil Salt and captain Harry Brook shared an unbeaten 146-run partnership for the second wicket.
Brook smashed 79 not out from 35 balls, while Salt recovered from a slow start to finish unbeaten on 59 from 42 deliveries after failing to score off his first nine balls.
England sealed victory when Salt struck Arshdeep Singh through the off side for the winning runs.
The hosts have now won the last three completed matches after the opening game at Chester-le-Street was washed out, including Tuesday’s crushing 125-run victory at Trent Bridge.
The defeat extended India’s losing streak to five completed T20 internationals following back-to-back losses to Ireland before the England series.
Captain Shreyas Iyer, who took charge of the T20 side in June, produced a lone hand with an unbeaten 80 from 49 balls after electing to bat first, but received little support from the rest of the batting lineup as India posted 158-7.
Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fell for 15 after holing out to Sam Curran off Jofra Archer.
Shivam Dube was the only other India batter to pass 20, scoring 22 before being caught by Tom Banton at long-on off Will Jacks after adding 53 runs with Iyer for the fourth wicket.
Archer finished with figures of 2-20 and claimed his second wicket in unusual fashion when Axar Patel was run out at the non-striker’s end after the fast bowler deflected the ball onto the stumps with his foot.
“This is the transition phase and we will be making a lot of mistakes,” Iyer said.
“Again, it was a disappointing one.”
England can complete a 4-0 sweep in Southampton on Saturday, a result that would see them replace India as the world’s top-ranked T20 international side.
“It would be pretty cool for us to be world number one, to be honest,” Brook said.
“That is definitely an aim. If we keep doing what we have been doing and stick to our guns, hopefully we will come out 4-0.”
England have now won 19 of their last 22 completed T20 internationals since Brook became captain last year.
