Suryakumar, Thakur guides India to level series

Rahul Chahar bowled Dawid Malan. Image Courtesy: BCCI

India 185 for 8 (Suryakumar 57, Iyer 37, Archer 4-33) beat England 177 for 8 (Stokes 46, Roy 40, Thakur 3-42) by 8 runs

Ahmedabad: India set up a series decider with an eight-run win over England in an absorbing fourth Twenty20 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Suryakumar Yadav hit a sparkling 57 off 31 balls in his maiden international innings as the hosts posted 185-8 on the best batting surface of the series.

England were in contention at 140-3 off 16 overs, but lost Ben Stokes for 46 and Eoin Morgan in consecutive balls.

Jofra Archer got the tourists close but India held their nerve as England finished on 177-8.

With both openers falling cheaply and Adil Rashid having Virat Kohli stumped off a googly for only one, it seemed India might again fail to set an imposing total.

But the depths of their batting reserves proved vital as Suryakumar, who made his India debut in the second T20, shone in place of that game's star, the injured Ishan Kishan.

The first victory by the side batting first in this series sees it tied at 2-2.

The final T20 in Ahmedabad is on Saturday at 7pm IST.

Suryakumar hit his first delivery for six - an outrageous pull off Archer - setting the tone for an enthralling knock in which he reached 50 off 28 balls.

After sumptuously sweeping Sam Curran for six, he was dismissed in controversial fashion playing the same shot next up.

Dawid Malan took a low catch that was given a soft signal of out by the on-field umpires - a decision the third umpire had to stick by after multiple replays proved inconclusive as to whether Malan's fingers were under the ball.

Rishabh Pant, who made 30 off 23 balls, and Shreyas Iyer, with 37 off 18, continued the momentum, before England checked it slightly late on, Stokes taking a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss Hardik Pandya and Archer striking twice in a superb last over to finish with 4-33.