India v England: fourth T20 international – live!

Archer in his follow through, such clever cricket. He found the leading edge with a slightly slower delivery having cranked up the pace earlier in the over. A big early breakthrough for England.

3rd over: India 19-0 (Rohit 11, KL Rahul 6) Mark Wood is fit and quick, hurling himself down the runway time and again. He’s up to 93mph with his second delivery, angling in at the pegs, giving nothing away. Rohit and Rahul have no choice other than to respect England’s best bowler in the series. Fantastic, athletic bowling.

2nd over: India 18-0 (Rohit 11, KL Rahul 6) Archer to Rahul. He gets a single to Roy at point, Rohit kicking a legbye into the onside from a fuller delivery. The quick bouncer follows, Rahul just able to sway his gloves (and head) outside the line as the ball arrives. A nice punch off the back foot to finish, middled into the gap through point for four. That’ll feel nice for a man trying to locate some form. Shot.

1st over: India 12-0 (Rohit 11, KL Rahul 1) SIX first ball! Up and over cover, against the spin of the wrong’un. Shot. India absorbed 25 scoreless balls in their power play on Tuesday, losing 3/24 along the way – different story here, Rohit turning the third ball behing square for four more. It prompts a change in the field, the two men out at long on and deep midwicket. Over to KL Rahul for the final ball of the over, the man under pressure after two ducks in the series, and he’s off the mark with a single to midwicket. It’s tighter than it should be, Rohit having to dive – it’s sent upstairs for a look but he’s well back by the time Buttler takes the bails. Much better start.

The players are on the field. Adil Rashid to once again get the first over, for the third time in the series. Rohit Sharma is facing the first ball. Athers reports that they are back to the pitch they used in the first game of the series, rather than the strip from Tuesday. PLAY!

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar.

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

It’s the same pitch used in the third game. But that hasn’t changed Morgan’s mind about chasing, and why would it after what we’ve seen in this series so far? Kohli says he isn’t concerned batting first.

Ishan Kishan has been left out. I didn’t see that coming. He’s replaced by Suryakumar Yadav, who didn’t get a hit on debut on Sunday. In practice, it is KL Rahul saved. Legspinner Yuzdendra Chalal is also out with fellow wristspinner Rahul Chahar in.

Eoin Morgan has named an unchanged XI.

“Buttler must open surely!” insists Stuie Neale to get us underway. “Played a blinder. I say unchanged and win toss and chase again. Worked so far!”

The Buttler case really boils down to whether England want to use their best white-ball player of all-time as an opener or a finisher. You can mount persuasive cases both ways. Because Eoin Morgan has so many options to open, maybe the side is, on balanace, with him down the list at the death. On the other hand, it’s compelling to give a guy like Buttler a blank piece of paper with 120 deliveries.

I’ll get off the fence: I’d keep him opening. Sure, Ben Stokes is yet to click as a death-overs slugger, but there’s nobody doubting that he has the skills to pay the bills in this respect. And the captain is pretty handy too, let’s not forget, having clocked 100 caps in the role.

“Hi Adam.” Hello, Ruth Purdue. “Congratulations on your award. Your writing and coverage is greatly appreciated by me and many. The ‘newer and more modern’ perspective on cricket that the likes of you and others, such as Geoff, is exceptional and made me into a more thoughtful and less partisan person.”

Ruth is referring to the CMJ broadcasting gong from the other day, which was a nice thing. I’ll use this as an early opportunity to thank everyone from the OBO community who emailed and tweeted through kind messages when it was announced. Most appreciated.