After bagging the crucial wickets and bowling the final over of the fourth T20I which India won by eight runs against England here at the Narendra Modi Stadium, pacer Shardul Thakur said that Rohit Sharma advised him to follow his instincts while bowling in the crunch situation.
With this win, India have levelled the series 2-2. Thakur brought the hosts back in the game as he scalped two crucial wickets of Stokes and Morgan on successive balls in the 16th over. Thakur picked Stokes (46) on the first ball and on the next delivery, he removed Morgan (4) to leave the visitors reeling at 140/6.
Thakur returned with the figures of 3-42 in his four overs. While Hardik Pandya and Deepak Chahar claimed two scalps each to restrict England at 177/8 in 20 overs.
"I am enjoying myself, and bowling in times when batsmen are going hard at us. Hardik had some plans but Rohit just wanted me to back my instinct. He mentioned one side of the ground is shorter and just asked me to keep it in mind and asked me to apply myself," Thakur said after the match.
The 29-year-old seamer admitted that it was difficult to control the wet ball because of the dew on the ground.
"There was a lot of dew in this match, which wasn't true of the last three matches. They were swinging hard in the last over, and it was important to bowl a couple of dot balls and then the game was sealed. The dry ball worked for them, and when I tried a slow bouncer it was in the slot and it went for six. If we bowled the slow ones on the stumps it would've been easy to hit, so the target was to keep it away from their power zone. If the ball is drier, it's easier to grip for the knuckle ball," the pacer added.
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav hit a classy 31-ball 57 to ensure India posted a competitive 185/8. The series decider to be played on Saturday at the same venue.
( With inputs from ANI )
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