Sawt Falasteen - Pandya, Dube lift India to 181-9 in fourth T20 against England

India, who lost the previous game but lead the five-match series 2-1, tumbled to 79-5 after England speedster Saqib Mahmood rattled them with three wickets in one over in Pune.

However, left-hander Dube hit back with 53 and Pandya smashed the same score, putting on 87 runs for the sixth wicket in a partnership littered with fours and sixes.

England elected to bowl first and Mahmood, who was added in place of Mark Wood, made an instant impact when he had Sanju Samson caught for 12 with his first ball.

He struck again with the wicket of Tilak Varma to be on a hat-trick, although Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav managed to avoid it. Yadav, however, lasted only four balls before being dismissed by Mahmood for a duck.

Rinku Singh, who made 30, and Abhishek Sharma, with 29, both attempted to counter-attack with a flurry of boundaries but leg-spinner Adil Rashid broke through.

Abhishek slog-swept a looping and slow delivery from outside-off to be caught at deep mid-wicket by Jacob Bethell, who came in for Jamie Smith as the second change in the England team.

Brydon Carse took down Rinku but Dube, who was dropped on zero by skipper Jos Buttler at slip, and Pandya took on the Indian attack.

Pandya smashed four fours and four sixes in his 30-ball blitz before being dismissed by Jamie Overton and Dube was run out on the final ball.

A.AlHaj--SF-PST