Abhishek Sharma hit a brutal 135 to set up a crushing 150-run victory for India over England in the fifth T20I to seal the series 4-1.

The opener’s incredible 54-ball knock, laced with 13 sixes, fired India to 247-9 after being invited to bat first at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.

The tourists were never in the chase despite Phil Salt’s 23-ball 55 as India bowled out the tourists for 97 for their second biggest T20I victory by runs.

England slipped to 68-4 as captain Jos Buttler (seven), Harry Brook (two) and Liam Livingstone (nine) all failed to make an impact.

Shivam Dube, a batting all-rounder who bowls medium pace, removed Salt with the first ball he bowled after he was controversially replaced by fast bowler Harshit Rana as a concussion substitute in the previous match.

The rest of the England batting fell quickly with Jacob Bethell, who made 10, the only batsman to reach double figures other than Salt.

Abhishek turned up with the ball as well and took two wickets with his left-arm spin in the only over he bowled.

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy and Dube also took two each.

Pace bowler Mohammed Shami finished with three wickets as he wrapped up the England innings in 10.3 overs.

Abhishek dominated a partnership of 115 for the second wicket with Tilak Varma following England’s decision to bowl first.

The 24-year-old raced to his fifty in 17 balls with a six and then reached his second T20I century for India in 37 deliveries. Dube was the next highest scorer with 30.

Speedster Mark Wood dismissed Hardik Pandya for nine after earlier removing opener Sanju Samson.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid had Abhishek caught out in the 18th over as India lost four wickets in the final five overs.

Fast bowler Brydon Carse took three wickets, including Suryakumar Yadav for two, with the Indian captain’s batting woes showing no signs of ending.

India won the opening two matches before England came back to keep the series alive in the third game.

India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the fourth T20I after Rana’s inclusion in place of Dube – not a like-for-like replacement – angered England.

The two teams now head into three ODIs starting 6 February in Nagpur.

The series is a warm-up for the 50-over Champions Trophy starting on 19 February in Pakistan and Dubai.

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Photo: BCCI/X

Opener Abhishek Sharma’s 34-ball 79 helped India to a crushing seven-wicket win over England in the first T20I in Kolkata.

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy and fast bowler Arshdeep Singh shared five wickets between them as India bowled out England for 132 after the hosts elected to field first.

Left-hander Sharma then came out firing and despite losing two of his partners smashed a 20-ball fifty and ended with eight sixes and five fours to steer the team to victory in 12.5 overs and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

The T20I series, followed by three ODIs, between the two teams serve as a warm-up for the 50-over Champions Trophy next month.

England captain Jos Buttler smashed 68 off 44 balls but the rest of the lineup failed to get going.

Phil Salt fell for a duck on the third ball of the match, with a leading edge off his bat sending the ball high and into the gloves of wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.

Arshdeep dismissed Ben Duckett for four in the third over, with Rinku Singh taking a stunning backward running catch from the covers.

Buttler hit back with four boundaries off Hardik Pandya as he attempted to rebuild in a 48-run third-wicket partnership with his new deputy Harry Brook, who scored 17.

Chakravarthy bowled Brook with a googly and sent back Liam Livingstone for a duck as the ball darted into the stumps once again.

Buttler reached his fifty in 34 balls but wickets kept tumbling and in an attempt to push the scoring the skipper finally fell to Chakravarthy, who returned figures of 3-23, the ball after hitting the bowler for six.

Arshdeep, Axar Patel and Pandya took two wickets each and a run out from the last ball saw England all out in 20 overs.

India raced to 41 in 4.1 overs before fast bowler Jofra Archer took down Sanju Samson, for 26, and skipper Suryakumar Yadav, for a duck, in the space of four deliveries.

But Sharma kept up the batting blitz to take the steam out of the England bowling.

The 24-year-old Sharma finally fell to Adil Rashid but not after a show that entertained the raucous home crowd.

It was a disappointing start for England’s new white-ball coach Brendon McCullum, who was previously only in charge of the Test side.

India surprisingly left out Mohammed Shami after the fast bowler returned to the squad following a heel injury that kept him away from competitive cricket for over a year.

The second T20I is on Saturday in Chennai.

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Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images