PUNE, India (AP) — Concussion substitute Harshit Rana took 3-33 on debut and India beat England by 15 runs to win the Twenty20 series with a match to spare on Friday.
Rana bowled England's last hope, Jamie Overton, at the end of the 19th over, leaving No. 10 batter Adil Rashid with No. 11 Saqib Mahmood to score 19 runs off the last over. They scored three until Mahmood holed out.
England was dismissed for 166 with two balls left after India made 181-9.
India was 12-3 in the second over and 79-5 in the 11th but an 87-run partnership off 45 balls between Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya rescued the hosts.
Dube, playing his first T20 for India since July, scored 53 off 34 balls and Pandya 53 off 30.
In India's last over, Dube took a hit on his helmet from Overton and walked off owing to concussion. In a debatable decision, the batting allrounder was replaced later by medium-pace bowler Rana when the rules say like-for-like substitutions.
India clinched the series 3-1 before the fifth and last match on Sunday in Mumbai.
England won its first toss of the series and opted to bowl. Both sides made changes, with Dube, Rinku Singh and Arshdeep Singh coming in for India. England brought in Jacob Bethell and Mahmood.
India lost its top order to Mahmood in the second over. Sanju Samson was out caught at square leg for 1, and Tilak Varma slashed straight to third man first ball. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav then chipped the over’s last ball to midwicket for a four-ball duck.
Abhishek Sharma hit 29 runs with four fours and a six and put on 45 off 32 balls with Rinku Singh, who scored 30 off 26.
Adil Rashid separated them when Sharma was caught in the eighth over, then Brydon Carse dismissed Singh.
But from there, Dube and Pandya charged at the England bowlers and turned momentum. Dube smacked seven boundaries and two sixes. Pandya hit four sixes and as many fours.
Chasing 182 to level the series, England made a swift start through openers Phil Salt (23) and Ben Duckett (39). They shared 62 off 36 balls.
Duckett hit seven boundaries and a six off 19 balls and fell against the run of play to wrist spinner Ravi Bishnoi at the end of the powerplay.
Five balls later, Axar Patel bowled Salt and Bishnoi got the prize wicket of Jos Buttler.
England lost three wickets in nine deliveries and was down to 67-3.
Harry Brook, overcoming a poor run in the series, gave England hope with 51 off 26 balls. Brook smacked five fours and two sixes but he fell immediately after his half-century – out for a third time against Varun Chakravarthy in the series.
The mystery spinner also got Carse for a two-ball duck.
The game turned when Rana was brought on as Dube's concussion substitute. Rana didn't waste his opportunity — he had dismissed Liam Livingstone and Bethell and returned to bowl Overton to kill off England hopes.
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The Associated Press
