India beat England 2-1 in T20Is: List of India’s 3-game series wins in 20-over format

India came up with a magnificent chase to overhaul England’s 198 for 9 in 18.4 overs in Bristol on Sunday, July 8, to win the three-match T20 International (T20I) series 2-1. This victory also saw Virat Kohli’s men registering their first-ever T20I series win in England.

This win also ensured that the Indians remained unbeaten in the 20-over format in bilateral series featuring a minimum of three matches since losing a home series to South Africa back in 2015-16 season (it remains as India’s only loss in a three-game T20I series till date). They also won two multilateral T20I tournaments in this season, in the form of Asia Cup in 2016 and the Nidahas Series in Sri Lanka earlier this year.

The only series they lost (0-1) in this time was against the West Indies in 2016 but it was a two-game series played in the United States. The other time they couldn’t win a T20 series was against Australia at home when they tied the visitors 1-1 in a three-game series in 2017-18.

Here is a brief list of India’s T20 series (of minimum three matches) victories since they started participating in this version since 2006-07.

India beat Australia 3-0(3) in Australia, 2015-16: The Indians though defeated South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe after making debut in T20Is but they were mostly in one-off or two-game series. India played their first three-match T20I series against Australia in their den in 2015-16 and whitewashed them 3-0 to register their only series victory Down Under in any form of cricket. Led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India beat Australia by 37 runs in Adelaide; 27 runs in Melbourne and 7 wickets in Sydney. Virat Kohli was adjudged the man of the match. Australia was led in first two matches by Aaron Finch while in the third game, Shane Watson captained the side.

India beat Sri Lanka 2-1(3) in India, 2015-16: Dhoni’s men in blue followed up their memorable win in Australia by a series win against Sri Lanka after they lost to the Islanders by 5 wickets in the first game. After getting bundled for just 101 in the first game in Pune, India made a strong comeback in Ranchi by winning the match by 69 runs and then in Vishakhapatnam, Ravichandran Ashwin’s incredible 4 for 8 saw them skittling out the visitors for 82 and winning the game by 9 wickets to grab the series 2-1. Ashwin was chosen the man of the match in the victory against Dinesh Chandimal’s side.

India beat Zimbabwe 2-1(3) in Zimbabwe, 2016: MS Dhoni led a young team to play the African side and was stunned in the first game which they lost by just 2 runs. But they came back to hammer the hosts by 10 wickets in the second game after debutant Barinder Sran took 4 wickets for 10 runs. The Indians batted disappointingly in the last game to score just 138 runs but still, their bowlers snatched a three-run victory over Alexander Cremer’s Zimbabwean side to win the series 2-1. All three games were played in Harare. Sran was picked as the man of the series.

India beat England 2-1(3) in India, 2016-17: Kohli captained India for the first time in T20Is in this series and after suffering a 7-wicket loss in Kanpur, saw his side winning the series by coming from behind. The Indians pulled off a close 5-run win in Nagpur after scoring a total similar to the one in the first but then in Bengaluru, Eoin Morgan’s England witnessed a dramatic collapse (last 8 wickets fell for 8 runs) to lose the decider by 75 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal spun England out of the game by taking six wickets for 25, registering India’s best T20I bowling figures and world’s third best. Chahal was adjudged the man of the series.

India beat New Zealand 2-1(3) in India, 2017-18: India registered their first-ever win against New Zealand in the T20Is when they won their first game of the series (it was also Ashish Nehra’s final international game) in Delhi by 53 runs. But dashing Colin Munro’s unbeaten century in the second game in Rajkot saw the Kiwis defeating India by 40 runs to square the series. The final game was played in Thiruvananthapuram, the 50^th venue in India to host an international cricket match but it was a rain-curtailed affair which India won by just six runs. The Kiwis required 68 runs in 8 overs but a player of the series Jasprit Bumrah’s 2 for 9 saw them managing just 61. Indian skipper Kohli scored most runs for India in this series (104).

India beat Sri Lanka 3-0(3) in India, 2017-18: Led by Rohit Sharma as the Indians thrashed Sri Lanka by 93 runs in the first T20I of the three-game series in Cuttack (it was the Islanders’ 100^th T20I). The Indians scored 180 for 3 first and then bundled the visitors for 87 with Yuzvendra Chahal taking 4 for 23. India hammered the Lankans again in Indore where in-form Rohit Sharma hit a century and India won the game by 88 runs. Chahal took another four-for in this game. In the final game, too, India proved too hot to be handled by the Lankans as the Islanders lost it by 5 wickets after scoring 135 for 7 wickets in 20 overs. This was India’s second perfect score in a T20I series featuring three matches and the first at home. Washington Sundar made his debut in the third game as the youngest Indian in the T20Is.

India beat South Africa 2-1(3) in South Africa, 2017-18: After annihilating the hosts 5-1 in a six-game series, India was upbeat in the T20I series that followed it and they delivered perfectly well. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 5 for 24 denied the Proteas victory in Johannesburg after India scored 203 for 5 and the visitors took a 1-0 lead. Skipper JP Duminy then led from the front with wicket-keeper Heinrich Klassen to win the second T20I in Centurion by 6 wickets after India set them a target of 189.

It all came down to the wire in the third T20I in Cape Town and South Africa, despite being in the chase for most of the match, lost the way in the dying moments to fall short of India’s total of 172 for 7 by just seven runs. India was led by Rohit Sharma in the final match in the absence of an injured Kohli. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was picked as the man of the series. It was India’s third T20I series win outside Asia.

India beat England 2-1(3) in England, 2018: This was India’s first-ever T20I series win against England in England. After Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul produced magic with the ball and bat, respectively, in Manchester to give Kohli’s India a thumping victory by 8 wickets, the hosts leveled the series in Cardiff with a 5-wicket win. They looked strong to win the third T20I as well by posting a formidable score of 198 for 9 in 20 overs but Rohit Sharma, one of India’s finest batsman in this format, came up with yet another century (100 not out off 56 balls) to take India home with more than an over to spare. This was Sharma’s third ton in T20Is which put him ahead of Rahul by one. Sharma was adjudged the man of the series. England was captained in the series by Eoin Morgan.