“Is it smoggy in Rajkot?” – Ex-captain mocks England after their batting collapse in IND vs ENG 2025 3rd T20I

Former England captain Michael Vaughan mocked the visiting team after their underwhelming batting performance in the ongoing third T20I against India at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. With vHarry Brook underlining smog as an excuse for his batting struggle in the opening game in Kolkata, Vaughan posed a question on X if the case was the same in Rajkot.

Jos Buttler stood out with a 44-ball 68 in the opening game but England collapsed to 132 all out and went 0-1 down in the five-game T20I series. With Brook castled by Varun Chakravarthy for 17, the Yorkshire batter cited smog as amongst the reasons they failed to pick the spinner, inviting plenty of backlash from fans.

With Brook once again failing to score big and England managing only 171 on a good batting track despite a good start, Vaughan wrote on X:

"Is it Smoggy in Rajkot ?"

Brook, the vice-captain, saw his stumps rattled for the third time in a row, with Ravi Bishnoi plotted his downfall this time. The batter departed for eight off 10 deliveries.

Varun Chakrvarthy takes wickets tally for the series to 10 with a fifer against England

Varun Chakravarthy. (Image Credits: BCCI X)

Chakravarthy, who snared three wickets in the opening T20I, followed by two more in the second, picked up his second fifer in the format on Tuesday, January 28. The 33-year-old dismissed Buttler, Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer to finish with astonishing figures of 4-0-24-5.

Ben Duckett scored a half-century but failed to kick on, holing out to Abhishek Sharma at deep mid-wicket. Liam Livingstone provided the much-needed impetus with his 24-ball 43 that consisted of five sixes before Hardik Pandya dismissed him. The tourists fluffed a golden chance to win the second T20I in Chennai as Tilak Varma played a blinder to carry the Men in Blue from 78-5 to the target of 166 with two wickets to spare.