Top 5 Individual Performances by Indian players in India vs England T20Is

#2. Kuldeep Yadav (5/24 in 4 overs)

KULDEEP celebrates a wicket with teammates.

You don't often see an Indian spinner taking 5 wickets in a match in England, especially in T20s. What Kuldeep Yadav delivered in the 1st T20I of the series was pure Magic. Spin Wizardry.

The Chinaman bowler was on his first trip to the UK with the Indian team, totally deprived of the conditions, and yet, bamboozled the English batsmen with sheer art of wrist bowling.

With the start the in-form duo of Jason Roy and Jos Butler gave the English team, they were looking set for at least 200 with the Goliath level batting that was to follow. Kuldeep had other plans. First, he created pressure on Hales along with the other bowlers, and then snatched the spine of the England batting line up in a space of few balls.

After getting Hales out in his 2nd over, he took the wickets of Morgan, Root and Bairstow in just 4 balls in his 3rd over to put Indians in the driving seat. He then took the in-form Buttler in his last over to complete a skillful 5 wicket haul. England never recovered and managed a below par 159. Which, well, was chased down with ease courtesy of Rahul's 101*.

The reason Kuldeep's 5-wicket haul was better than Chahal's 6, for me, was because of the English condition and the form that the English batsmen were in, all of them. Kudos to our new generation wrist-spinners.

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SPECIAL MENTIONS

With so many brilliant performances having been played in the past, it will be an injustice to 2 awesome match-winning performances being left out without any mentions. So here are those before revealing our #1.

Harbhajan Singh. (4-2-12-4)

The 2012 T20 WC in Sri Lanka might not have been a remarkable one for the Indian team, but the match against England brought back old memories.

Bhajji, in what turned out to be his last major tournament for the Indian team, gave a splendid performance in the match against England.

Defending 171, the 'Turbanator' helped India to dismiss England for a partly 70!!! He took 4 wickets while giving away only 12 runs in his 4 overs which had 2 maiden overs! Now that's some classy stuff from India's most successful off-spinner ever and that helped him bag the Man of the Match award.

Hardik Pandya. (4/33 & 33* in 14 balls)

Often regarded as India's new cricketing superstar and the answer to India's long-term all-rounder woes, the man from Mumbai Indians came on his own on Sunday during the 3rd T20I.

After getting smashed for 23 in his first over, he came back strongly as he picked up 4 wickets in his next 3 overs to help India restrict England to 198, who were looking set to score above 220 at one time.

Later in the second innings, after getting promoted ahead of the likes of Raina and Dhoni, he played the perfect finishing role by scoring a quick-fire 33* off just 14 balls and ended the match with a huge six over long-on. This has to be the best all-round performance by any player in any Eng v Ind T20I match.