England seal series with crushing nine-wicket win over India

An unbeaten century stand between Harry Brook and Phil Salt powered England to a comprehensive nine-wicket win over India with 6.1 overs to spare in Bristol, sealing an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match T20I series. This marks England's first bilateral series win over India across formats since 2019. The defeat extended India's winless run in T20Is to six matches since their T20 World Cup triumph in March.

Defending a below-par 158, India made the ideal start when Arshdeep Singh dismissed Jos Buttler in the third over. At 22 for 1, India briefly had an opening, but any hopes of a contest were quickly extinguished by Brook, who put India on the back foot with an audacious scooped six off Arshdeep.

Brook tore into Washington Sundar with three boundaries and a six in a 19-run over before bringing up a 21-ball half-century. Salt soon joined the party, launching Axar Patel over extra cover for six as the second-wicket stand swelled beyond 100. Brook finished unbeaten on 79 off 35, while Salt completed a 37-ball fifty.

Earlier, India won yet another toss but England's disciplined attack restricted them to 158 for 7 despite Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 80. England's pace attack stuck to hard lengths and reaped early rewards. Jofra Archer removed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the second game running, before Josh Tongue dismissed Ishan Kishan in similar fashion as India slipped to 32 for 2. India reached only 44 for 2 in the first six overs – their slowest Powerplay of the series.

Shreyas and Shivam Dube's 53-run stand steadied the innings but progressed at a modest pace. Will Jacks eventually broke the stand by deceiving Dube. After bringing up a patient half-century, Shreyas finally broke free against Rashid in the 18th over, taking the legspinner for 20 runs. However, England wrested back control immediately. India failed to find a boundary in the final two overs, managing only eight runs while losing two wickets.

Brief scores: India 158/7 (Shreyas Iyer 80*; Jofra Archer 2-20, Josh Tongue 2-36) lost to England 159/1 in 13.5 overs (Harry Brook 79*, Phil Salt 59*; Arshdeep Singh 1-41) by 9 wickets