Following India’s 3-2 T20I series win over England, we’ve put together a team of the series.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match awards, player interviews, analysis and much more.
In a five-match battle between two sides tipped for success at this year’s T20 World Cup, it was the hosts who came out on top, bouncing back from 2-1 down to claim a series win.
Across the ebbs and flows were some fine individual performances across both sides – this XI rewards those who made game-changing contributions.
Jos Buttler (wk)
5 matches, 172 runs @ 43, SR: 147
Now firmly ensconced at the top of the order, Buttler looks the star man in an elite England batting line-up. He was at his best in the third T20I, striking an unbeaten 83 in an eight-wicket win, while he sealed the series with another half-century to further boost his impressive record as an opener in T20I cricket: after 19 innings he averages 48.46 with a strike rate north of 150, having accrued eight fifties in the process.
Ishan Kishan
2 matches, 60 runs @ 30, SR: 146.34
Kishan makes this side on the basis of one innings, but what an innings it was. On debut and with a crowd watching his every step, the Mumbai Indians wunderkind ran riot with Virat Kohli at the other end, smashing 56 off just 32 balls in a comfortable eight-wicket victory.
Virat Kohli (c)
5 matches, 231 runs @ 115.50, SR: 147.13
After beginning with a duck, his third in five international innings, Kohli found his mojo in the second T20I with an unbeaten 73 and didn’t let up from there. As his teammates faltered in the next match, Kohli played some stunning strokes – a drive for six over long-off against Mark Wood was sublime – to finish with another 70-odd not out. In the final game of the series, he opened up and controlled India’s gargantuan effort, striking 80 not out.
Suryakumar Yadav
3 matches, 89 runs @ 44.50, SR: 185.41
Left out after not batting on debut, Yadav returned in the fourth T20I and made a wildly memorable impression. After striking his first ball in international cricket for six, he motored to a 31-ball 57 and showed it was no fluke two days later, with a 17-ball 32 ended only by a stunning bit of fielding.
Jonny Bairstow
5 matches, 118 runs @ 39.33, SR: 137.20
No longer a staple of the top three – no problem. Bairstow helped England home in both of their wins and was by a distance the visitors’ best performer in the middle order.
Hardik Pandya
5 matches, 86 runs @ 28.66, SR: 140.98 | 3 wickets @ 39.33, ER: 6.94
He only really found his feet with the bat in the fifth T20I, blazing a quickfire 39 to close the innings, but his feats with the ball were key at the crunch-end of the series. India’s line-up in the fourth T20I meant Pandya had to bowl his full allotment, and he didn’t let Kohli down, taking 2-16 in four overs.
Jofra Archer
5 matches, 7 wickets @ 22.14, ER: 7.75 | 19 runs @ 19, SR: 190
Like his fellow English quicks, Archer found it tough going in the final match of the series, but he was in fine form earlier in the series. In the opener he collected figures of 3-23, while a four-for was his reward in the fourth T20I. Capable of taking bags of wickets, he remains a parsimonious operator, too – he was England’s most economical bowler in the series. He finally batted in a T20I for England too, carrying over his hitting from the IPL.
Shardul Thakur
5 matches, 8 wickets @ 21, ER: 9.69
Bowling wily off-cutters to England’s left-handers, Thakur couldn’t stop taking wickets in the last two matches of the series, twice turning the tide in India’s favour in must-win matches. He finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series.
Adil Rashid
5 matches, 4 wickets @ 37, ER: 7.78
It was a tough series for tweakers, and while Rashid’s numbers are hardly eye-catching, he adapted well to his new role as an opening bowler, finishing the series as the most economical spinner across both sides.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
5 matches, 4 wickets @ 28.75, ER: 6.38
There was no bowler more economical in the series than Kumar, who returned to international cricket for the first time since 2019. He was at his best in the series decider – with more than 400 runs scored in the match, the 31-year-old was on another level, conceding just 15 runs off his four overs and taking two wickets.
Mark Wood
4 matches, 5 wickets @ 25.80, ER: 8.06
Figures of 0-53 in the final match were an outlier as Wood enjoyed a fine series on the whole, impressing on the speed gun but also showing real substance with a collection of five wickets in his first three matches. He now looks a lock in England’s first-choice T20I XI.
