Brutal Jos Buttler trumps Virat Kohli as England thrash India in third T20

Tourists seal convincing eight-wicket victory after home captain is upstaged in Ahmedabad

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  Jonny Bairstow, left, and Jos Buttler after England had thrashed India by eight wickets in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, March 16. PA

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  England's Jos Buttler during his match-winning knock of 83. PA

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  India's Washington Sundar celebrates with captain Virat Kohli after taking the wicket of England batsman Dawid Malan for 18. AFP

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  Jonny Bairstow hit an unbeaten 40 for England. AFP

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  England's Jos Buttler, right, is congratulated by Dawid Malan after raching his 50. AFP

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  India's Yuzvendra Chahal misses the chance to catch out England batsman Jonny Bairstow. AFP

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  England's Jos Buttler cracked an unbeaten 83 off 52 balls, including five fours and four sixes.. AFP

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  England captain Eoin Morgan, left, with Chris Jordan during India's innings of 156-6. Reuters

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  Captain Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 77 for India. Reuters

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  India's Rishabh Pant lies on the ground after being run out for 25. AP

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  Virat Kohli smashed 77 from 46 balls, including eight fours and four sixes. PA

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  England's Mark Wood celebrates the dismissal of India opener Rohit Sharma for 15. AFP

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  Hardik Pandya congratulates Virat Kohli after the India captain reached his half-century. Getty

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  Virat Kohli after reaching 50. AFP

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  England fielder Jofra Archer takes the catch to dismiss Hardik Pandya for 17. Getty

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  India's Rishabh Pant hit 25 off 20 balls. Reuters

Jos Buttler's blistering unbeaten 83 trumped Virat Kohli's majestic half-century as England beat India by eight wickets in the third Twenty20 International in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Kohli struck an unbeaten 77 off 46 balls to rescue India from a top-order collapse and help them to a competitive 156-6.

England overwhelmed the target with 10 balls to spare, and go 2-1 up in the five-match series, with Buttler smashing four sixes and five fours in his blistering 52-ball knock.

"Jos is a world-class player," said England captain Eoin Morgan. "We're very lucky to have him. He competes with the best in the world when it comes to opening the batting. He's been in incredible form and he's a great leader in our group. He's a huge influence."

Earlier put in to bat, India got off to a horror start mirroring their batting struggle in the series opener.

Their top order batsmen looked in discomfort against the pace and bounce of Mark Wood (3-31) and Jofra Archer.

Archer floored a return catch to reprieve Rohit Sharma off his first ball but England did not have to wait long for a breakthrough.

Wood breached KL Rahul's defence with an express delivery in the third over, dismissing the opener for his second successive duck in the series.

If pace got rid of Rahul, bounce did the trick against Rohit and Ishan Kishan.

India were 24-3 after the six powerplay overs and 55-3 at the halfway stage of their innings before Kohli counter-attacked.

The home captain smashed four sixes and eight boundaries as the hosts milked 56 runs off the last four overs.

"The England bowlers were brilliant with the new ball – they hardly gave us anything," said Kohli after the match. "I don't think our body language was good enough in the second half in the field. You need more energy."

England began cautiously and lost Jason Roy early after the opener played a reverse-sweep against Yuzvendra Chahal.

Buttler smashed a couple of sixes in that over and raced to a 26-ball fifty with his sustained aggression.

The English batsman got a life on 76, when Kohli, usually a safe catcher, dropped him at point after he had played a reverse-sweep. Jonny Bairstow's unbeaten 40 included the winning boundary.

Man of the match Buttler said:  "I like being not out in the end and getting the side over the line. Some people don't expect me to attack the spinners so I thought I would take it on."

Ahmedabad hosts all five matches with the fourth T20 scheduled on Thursday.

The last three matches are being played behind closed doors following a rise in Covid-19 cases in the state of Gujarat.