Sharma, Kohli fire India to record 224-2 in T20 England decider

Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli blasted half-centuries as India reached 224 for two to set a new best Twenty20 score against England in the deciding fifth match of their series on Saturday.

With the series level at 2-2, England won the toss in Ahmedabad, but Sharma blasted 64 and put on 94 with Kohli for the first wicket. India's captain made an unbeaten 80.

Sharma hit five sixes in his 34-ball blitz before he dragged a slower leg-cutter from Ben Stokes onto his stumps.

Suryakumar Yadav kept up the attack with a flurry of sixes and fours in his 32 off 17 balls, but a stunning fielding manoeuvre by Chris Jordan cut short his innings.

Yadav hit an Adil Rashid ball to the boundary for a likely six and Jordan sprinted from long-on to attempt a one-handed catch.

He flicked the ball to Jason Roy who completed the relay catch with a laugh.

Kohli stood firm to complete his third 50 of the series and combined with Hardik Pandya as India surpassed their previous best of 218, against England in Durban in the 2007 World Cup.

Kohli, who hit seven fours and two sixes in his 52-ball knock, and Pandya, who smashed 39, put on 81 for the third wicket.

Earlier, England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to field in the series-deciding fifth and final Twenty20 international against India on Saturday.

India has twice come from behind to level the series 2-2 as the teams have struggled to defend totals with a wet ball because of dew at the Nardendra Modi Stadium.

India made one change from the team that evened the series by recording a narrow eight-run win in the fourth game.

Out-of-form opening batsman Lokesh Rahul was finally left out after poor scores of 1, 0, 0 and 14 in the series.

Lineups:

India: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahal, Thangarasu Natarajan.

England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Chris Jodran, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.

Agencies