MUMBAI:
The start of Saturday’s second T20I international at Manchester’s Old Trafford on Saturday was all about young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s eagerly-awaited India debut but hosts England didn’t allow it to distract them, dishing out a fine all-round performance to win by four wickets with six balls to spare.
After doing well to restrict India to 190/7, the home side were well served by their left-hand batter, Jacob Bethel, who smashed an unbeaten 76 off 46 (five fours, five sixes) to help England go one up in the five-match series.
Whitewashed by Ireland in the preceding two-game series, the pressure was on India going into the game, and the world champions’ poor tour of the UK continued. It was India’s third defeat in four games on the tour, with the first T20I against England washed out.
In their own conditions, England’s bowlers can be a handful. The conditions at Old Trafford were windy, the pitch had pace and bounce. The ball was gripping for the spinners. The home bowlers used them effectively to restrict India to a below-par total.
Their left-arm pacer, Sam Curran, did an excellent job with three wickets for 33 runs.
There was help on offer but England’s strong batting line-up meant the Indian bowlers had their task cut out when they came out to defend the target. The game was evenly poised at the 16-over mark with England needing 49 from 24 balls.
However, skipper Shreyas Iyer’s decision to give the 17th over to leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi against two left-handers, Jacob Bethel and Sam Curran, backfired.
Bethel made it a cakewalk by plundering 29 runs with three sixes and a four which brought down the equation to 20 off 18 balls. It was an inexcusable performance from Bishnoi, who started the crucial over with two no-balls to finish with disappointing figures of 4-0-60-0.
Bishnoi’s poor show laid to waste the efforts of left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Arshdeep had taken three big wickets while Axar bowled an excellent spell of 4-0-20-1, conceding just one four.
Taking the new ball, the bowler from Punjab provided India a perfect start, with double strike in the first over. He had Phil Salt nicking behind first ball trying to play a cut shot, and on the fifth ball Jos Buttler flicked an inswinger straight to Varun Chakravarthy at midwicket.
England captain Harry Brook, however, came out firing. He put the pressure back on Arshdeep in the third over by plundering 27 runs with three fours and two sixes.
However, Axar claimed the prized scalp of Brook in his first over, the fifth of the innings. It looked like Axar was bowling on a different pitch. He didn’t concede a single boundary in his first three overs, going for just 12 runs.
In batting, Sooryavanshi provided a glimpse of his hitting by marking his debut with two sixes. His promising knock was cut short in the fifth over by spinner Will Jacks, but his opening partnership of 50 in 4.5 overs with Abhishek Sharma (24-ball 43) meant India had the start they wanted. The visitors were well poised at 130/3 at the 13-over mark. From there on, however, the expected strong finish from India never came.
England’s bowlers pulled things back in impressive fashion by drying up the boundaries despite India captain Iyer and Ishan Kishan being well set with knocks of 37 and 49.
From over number 14 to 18, India couldn’t force a single double-digit over with maximum nine runs in the 18th over. Only two sixes by Tilak Varma against Jofra Archer in the final over helped India to a respectable total.
