Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone star as England stay alive in T20 series

Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone sparkled with the bat before a disciplined bowling performance led England to a 26-run win over India in the third T20 to keep the series alive.

Duckett thumped 51 off 28 balls but England’s spin woes resurfaced in Rajkot as Varun Chakravarthy’s five for 24 saw the tourists slip from 83 for one to 127 for eight before they recovered to 171 for nine.

Livingstone was largely responsible after belting five sixes in his 43 off 24 deliveries and England were able to restrict India to 145 for nine and narrow the deficit in the five-match series to 2-1.

Jamie Overton collected three for 23 and there were two wickets apiece for Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer, while Adil Rashid’s one for 15 – bowling India dangerman Tilak Varma – was outstanding.

There remains question marks over the form of Phil Salt, who registered his fifth single-figure score in six T20 innings, while Harry Brook showed a susceptibility against leg-spin as he under-edged Ravi Bishnoi on to his stumps.

Victory also came at a cost with Jamie Smith appearing to injure his calf, having initially deputised behind the stumps in place of Salt, allowing the opener to concentrate only on his batting.

Salt drove to Abhishek Sharma’s midriff to continue a barren run with eight runs in three innings but Duckett shrugged off a couple of low scores, settling with a scoop off the recalled Mohammed Shami.

He gathered five fours in a row with his trademark pulls, cuts and a reverse sweep and made it six boundaries in seven balls by bounding down the track and hitting Washington Sundar over the ropes.

While Duckett brought up a 26-ball fifty in the next over, he miscued Axar Patel to deep midwicket before Brook was bowled for the third time in a row, dragging Bishnoi on to his stumps.

Chakravarthy then struck twice in each of his last two overs, with Smith and Carse holing out and Overton and Archer having their timbers rattled.

As Chakravarthy celebrated a fourth wicket in 10 balls, Archer was so bamboozled he appeared to ask Livingstone what had happened.

As the last recognised batter, Livingstone went for broke with three sixes in four balls off Bishnoi before smearing Hardik Pandya straight to long-on although Rashid and Mark Wood recorded England’s joint-highest stand for the 10th wicket in T20s to lift them to their biggest total of the series.

Archer then hurried up Sanju Samson on the pull before taking an outstanding steepler of a catch on the move to see off Abhishek for 24 off 14 balls.

England had their third powerplay wicket when India captain Suryakumar Yadav’s attempted flick off Wood went high into the night sky and Salt, who took the gloves as Smith twanged his calf, safely settled underneath it.

Rashid struck in his first over with lavish turn breaching the defences of Chennai match-winner Varma before the leg-spinner and Overton stymied India, who needed 72 off the last 30 balls.

With Pandya at the crease, India were not out of it and he whipped Wood and Archer for leg-side sixes but Overton took pace off when he was reintroduced for his final over and had the all-rounder caught in the deep by Buttler.

Shami, playing in his first match for India since the 2023 World Cup final, belted Overton high over deep midwicket but he gave Brook stationed at long-on catching practice as India’s challenge petered out.