England level Twenty20 series against India - Khaleej Times

Captain Eoin Morgan smashed a six off the last ball as England levelled the Twenty20 series against India by winning the second and final match by six wickets here on Saturday night.

Needing three runs for a victory from the final ball, Morgan scored the winning runs by hitting the ball straight over pacer Ashok Dinda.

Morgan, who hit five fours and two sixes, remained not out on 49 from 29 balls, while Jos Buttler was unbeaten on 15. Michael Lumb gave a superb start to the visitors as the opener smashed six fours and two six in his entertaining half-century off 34 balls.

The introduction of Yuvraj Singh changed the equation a bit as the off-spinner broke the 80-run opening partnership by sending back Lumb. The all-rounder gave another breakthrough in the 11^th over by trapping Luke Wright in front of the wicket. Singh finished with excellent figures of 17 for 3 from his four overs.

Earlier, a late flourish saw India recover from a mid-innings stutter and post 177 for eight in 20 overs.

A rousing start was provided by Virat Kohli, who made a brisk 38 in 20 balls while adding 57 runs with opener Gautam Gambhir (17) for the second wicket.

But India lost their way a bit with the fall of four wickets between the seventh and 15^th overs before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (38 off 18) and Suresh Raina (35 not out off 24) provided the late spark with a sixth-wicket partnership of 60 runs in just 27 balls.

Among the other top order batsmen, Rohit Sharma made a 19-ball 24 but Ajinkya Rahane and Yuvraj Singh, who was the man-of-the-match in the series opener at Pune, failed. Opting to field, England bowlers started on a disciplined note before falling apart in the face Dhoni and Raina's late assault. They, though, fielded brilliantly right through.

Tim Bresnan was easily the best bowler with figures of one for 27, identical to spinner James Tredwell, while Stuart Meaker leaked 42 runs for a single wicket.

Kohli hit seven fours and once he fell after making use of the power play overs, England took control with some brilliant out-fielding, before Dhoni and Raina wrested back the advantage.

The arrival of Kohli after the fall of Rahane gave the Indian innings the push they needed, with the Delhi batsman looking in superb nick from the first ball he faced.

Kohli started by striking two fours off Jade Dernbach.

When Luke Wright replaced Dernbach to bowl the sixth and last power play over Kohli went berserk, cracking the bowler for four boundaries, that helped India race to 59 for one.