BRISTOL, England – Men’s Twenty20 cricket is facing a seismic shift in form, as reigning world champion India has plunged deeper into an unprecedented losing streak following a ninth-wicket, 6.1-over demolition by England in the fourth match of their five-game bilateral series Thursday. The defeat locked in an insurmountable 3-0 lead for England, marking the first time the host nation has ever claimed a head-to-head T20 series win over India.
The result extends India’s miserable run of form to five consecutive defeats in completed T20 matches, a new unwanted milestone for the side that lifted the 2024 T20 World Cup. This slump began earlier this month with a shocking 2-0 series whitewash at the hands of Ireland, with only a weather-abandoned match between India and England breaking the string of losses.
At Bristol’s County Ground, Indian captain Shreyas Iyer won the pre-match coin toss and elected to bat first, a decision that delivered mixed results at best. India stumbled early, collapsing to 3-48 within the opening powerplay, before a late middle-order rally lifted the side to a final total of 158 for 7 off 20 overs. The team’s 18-year-old rising prospect Vaibhav Sooryavanshi continued his underwhelming start to international cricket, scoring only 15 before being dismissed. Iyer anchored the innings with a hard-hitting 49-ball knock, which included four boundaries and five maximums. England’s fast bowling duo Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue led the host’s defensive effort, sharing four wickets between them to keep India’s total well below par.
England’s chase got off to a rocky start, when star wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler was caught behind off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the third over, leaving the host at 1 for 13. But a destructive unbroken partnership between opener Phil Salt and stand-in captain Harry Brook turned the match on its head. Brook, standing in for the rested Buttler, delivered a career-defining knock of 79 not out from just 35 balls, decorated with eight fours and four sixes. Salt finished the game unbeaten on 59 from 42 balls, guiding England over the finish line with more than six overs remaining. The win follows two lopsided English victories earlier in the series: in the third T20, England handed India its worst ever T20 defeat by a 125-run margin after bowling India out for only 76, while the second match saw England secure a four-wicket win. That second match marked Sooryavanshi’s international debut, where he became the youngest male player to represent India at 15 years and 99 days, scoring 14 runs off 10 balls. The teenage batter followed that debut with 13 runs in the third match and 15 in Thursday’s game, failing to post a significant score in his first three international outings.
With the series already decided, only the fifth and final match remains to be played, with India looking to avoid a series whitewash and end its months-long run of poor T20 results.