India vs England 5th T20I Highlights: India thrash England by 150 runs to clinch series 4-1

SIX! What a start from Sanju Samson. He gives India a start from the word go. The opener hits a six off the first delivery of the match. He smashes Jofra Archer over deep square leg for a flat six.

Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are at the crease. Jofra Archer will open the attack. Here we go ...!!!

INDIA: Shami comes back in for Arshdeep Singh

ENGLAND: Mark Wood comes in, and Saqib Mahmood goes out

India (Playing XI):

Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy

England (Playing XI):

Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (captain), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

We wanted to bat first, looks a good wicket. I am hoping there won't be much dew. It's going to be a full-packed stadium tonight. We want the boys taking that responsibility, that's what we demand and that's what they are doing. You will fail sometimes, especially when you play that high risk, high reward game. Shami comes back in for Arshdeep Singh.

- Suryakumar Yadav, India captain

We played some good cricket in patches. We should have executed it better though. Need to grab the special moments in the game. There's a good vibe in the team, it's a good venue and it's a great crowd. It's a good wicket, Mark Wood comes back in. Both teams are high-octane (in terms of batting.)

England captain Jos Buttler

A venue where boundary count is very high. 64m and 63n square boundaries respectively, 71m down the ground. It's a red soil pitch. There are a few cracks but not much grass near the full length early. There's some grass cover around the good length area, so there might be some movement for the pace bowlers. The pacers need to target the stumps. There hasn't been much dew around, but electing to bowl first is a good option

BY NICK KNIGHT

England captain Jos Buttler wins toss, opts to field against India in Mumbai

The selection of Harshit Rana as a "concussion sub" in place of Shivam Dube infuriated England captain Jos Buttler, but India's bowling coach Morne Morkel defended the decision, claiming that match referee Javagal Srinath made the final call after they presented the young pacer's name.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir skillfully employed the rules to substitute Mumbai all-rounder Rana, who bowls at early 120 clicks, for Dube, who reached a half-century, when Dube was hit by Jamie Overton off the penultimate delivery of the Indian innings.

"As far as I'm aware, Shivam (Dube) obviously took the knock on the head and when he came off the field during the innings break with mild headache symptoms, we took a name forward to the match referee in terms of a suitable substitution.

"From there it's up to the match referee to make that decision," Morkel replied when asked about the controversy surrounding Rana.

With a match remaining, the pacer helped India win by 15 runs in Pune on Friday night, capping the T20I series. He took 3/33 on his debut.

"Harshit (Rana) was having dinner, had to get himself ready as quick as possible to get onto the field and bowl and I thought he did an excellent job," Morkel said.


When questioned about Buttler's criticism of the replacement for not being like-for-like, Morkel avoided the subject.

"You know, it goes to the powers sort of above me (match referee).

"Match referee, he made the decision, you know, we can only take the name forward and from there it's out of our hands. We got the green light to go with that and, you know, we gave it an opportunity," he said.

The bowling unit's consistency in execution has greatly impressed the former South African pacer, who joined the Indian team management prior to the home season.

"In our planning we do before games, everybody's contributing in those conversations. But the main thing at the end of the day is to go out and execute," Morkel said.

"And I think even if we're under pressure with ball in hand, like tonight, you know, we were under pressure, defending a total there tonight, it was great character shown by this young group," he said.

England got off to a fast start with 62 runs in Powerplay, but Varun Chakravarthy, Rana, and Ravi Bishnoi demonstrated their skills by defending a total of 181.

"The way we defended tonight, yeah, I'm just very proud of this team. You know, defending a 180 sort of total on a good wicket with a wet outfield is outstanding work."

Even as India and England gear up for the fifth and final T20I of the series in Mumbai on Sunday, the hosts' concussion substitute move in the fourth game is still a raging debate.

India used Harshit Rana as a concussion replacement for half-centurion Shivam Dube, which allowed the hosts to win the fourth game of the five-match T20I series in Pune on Friday by a margin of 15 runs.

After Dube, who scored 53 from 34 balls, was struck on the helmet by a delivery from Jamie Overton in the 19.5th over, the concussion procedure was implemented.

Rana played a crucial role, taking three wickets, including Liam Livingstone's, and England captain Jos Buttler questioned if the concussion regulation was actually adhered to.

"I think either Shivam Dube put on 25 mph with the ball or Harshit Rana has improved a lot with his batting," Buttler said.

Now former England captain Kevin Pietersen shared his views on India's move.

Pietersen posted on X: "Concussion sub is quite the topic everywhere here atm and my view is…it was NEVER a like for like replacement and the match referee should just hold his hand up and say he got that one wrong. End of event for good and we move on to another great clash this evening."

A like-for-like replacement is permitted by the concussion protocol, and Rana, who does have a Ranji Trophy hundred, was the concussion substitute for medium pacer Dube.

All India did, according to bowling coach Morne Morkel, was assign a name to match referee Javagal Srinath.

"We only gave a name to match referee. After that it's out of our hands. Harshit was having dinner. He had to quickly get up and go out. I thought he did an excellent job," Morkel said.

The selection of Harshit Rana as a concussion substitution for Shivam Dube during the fourth Twenty20 International in Pune, according to legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar, was not like-for-like and detracted from the hosts' victory.

Harshit, who is mainly a pacer, took Dube's place after the all-rounder had a concussion while batting in the last over after Jamie Overton struck him on his helmet.

Rana, who made his T20I debut, took 3-33 in his four overs and was instrumental in India defending 182 and taking unbeatable series lead. The England captain, Jos Buttler, too voiced his displeasure with the Dube-Rana swap.

"In the Pune game, Dube batted right till the end after having got hit on the helmet earlier, so clearly, he was not concussed. So, allowing a concussion substitute itself was not correct. Yes, there could have been a substitute in case he had strained a muscle while batting, but that would have been only for fielding and he could not have bowled.

"Even by the most generous stretching of the like-for-like term, there was nothing such between Dube and Rana. With tongue firmly in cheek, one can say that they are the same height and have the same standard in fielding.

"Otherwise, there's nothing like-for-like as far as they are concerned. England have every reason to feel done in. This Indian team are a superb team and doesn't need its wins to get tarnished by such acts," wrote Gavaskar in his column for mid-day on Sunday.

Teams (from):

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana.

England: Jos Buttler (c), Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith (wk), Adil Rashid, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Jacob Bethell, Saqib Mahmood.

For England, it has been a series of more misses than hits but they have been outplayed generally across departments.

Harry Brook finally got a big knock on the board on Friday but his struggles persist against spin and particularly Chakravarthy, while young guns like Jacob Bethell and Jamie Smith have had their struggles on their maiden Indian sojourn.

Rinku Singh's 30 on Friday settled a lot of concerns around the swashbuckling left-hander, whose form and fitness were both in question going into the fourth match.

Hardik Pandya and Dube's fifties powered India's charge in the fourth T20I with the all-rounders filling in for the batters' failure but another batting-friendly wicket here will give the Indians a chance to make amends one last time in the shortest format.

Spoilt for choices in the bowling department, India could rest and play both their front-line pacers Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami through the course of this series.

But Sunday's contest could be another opportunity for the team management to test the readiness of Shami who is back after a lengthy injury-forced lay-off.

However, despite the series in bag, India's concerns remain the same -- Samson and Suryakumar's lean patch with the bat.

Samson, who missed the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Kerala, came into the series evidently lacking match practice and has struggled against the express pace of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer who have troubled the Indian opener consistently.

With only 35 runs in four matches so far, Samson's returns have been disappointing but it is unlikely that India would want to tinker with their opening combination at the top given that an all-out approach is a core principle of their T20 cricket.

World number four Suryakumar has gone without a significant score since his 75 against Bangladesh eight matches ago.

The Indian skipper has two ducks and scores of 12 and 14 to show in this series even though luck has favoured him during the toss.

'Sky' will be keen to shrug off the string of poor performances when he returns to his home ground Wankhede Stadium here, a venue which has played an indomitable role in building his reputation as a T20 specialist.

Chasing 182, they were cruising at 65/1 in the seventh over before collapsing under pressure against Indian spinners Varun Chakravarthy (2/28) and Ravi Bishnoi (3/28).

Chakravarthy’s tally in the series now stands at an impressive 12 wickets.

Hello and welcome to the Live coverage of fifth and final T20I match between India and England in Mumbai.

With the series already secured, India will aim to resolve their lingering batting concerns as they face an England side eager for redemption in the fifth and final T20 International on Sunday.

England, still aggrieved by a controversial concussion substitute ruling in the previous match, will be looking to finish on a high note. Meanwhile, the hosts hope for a return to form from struggling skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson in what would otherwise be a dead rubber.

India’s 15-run victory in the fourth T20I in Pune on Friday sealed the series with an unassailable 3-1 lead but left England frustrated over the concussion replacement decision.

Fast bowler Harshit Rana replaced all-rounder Shivam Dube—who had suffered a blow to the head while batting—and made an immediate impact, taking 3/33 on debut to derail England’s chase.

The substitution, approved by ICC match referee Javagal Srinath, sparked controversy as England argued that India had a more like-for-like replacement in Ramandeep Singh available.

England captain Jos Buttler admitted he was puzzled when he walked out to bat, wondering, “Who’s Harshit on for?”

However, despite the debate, England had only themselves to blame for squandering a strong start on a batting-friendly pitch at the MCA Stadium.