After a run-fest of an ODI series, this T20 one is turning out to be a little more attritional. Following a proper thrashing at the hands of England in the opening match, India struggled with the bat again in the second T20 in Nagpur, but this time, the match went the way of the hosts, with Jasprit Bumrah coming to the fore with some ridiculously-good death bowling.
India vs England 1st T20 highlights
Morgan won the toss for the second straight game, and despite the wicket being a slow one, asked India to bat first.
India's innings was a bit of a struggle, with only KL Rahul (71, 47b, 6x4, 2x6) able to put a real score of note. The hosts finished their innings on 144/8 in their 20 overs – Chris Jordan the wrecker-in-chief for the bowling side.
England looked on course for a comfortable win, but then Ben Stokes fell to Ashish Nehra, before Bumrah produced a couple of outstanding overs right at the end to restrict England to 139/6.
Wary of the start that Jason Roy and Sam Billings gave England in the first T20, Kohli began the innings with the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and that plan worked in quelling the run flow. After a couple of decent overs, Billings and Roy did take Chahal for a couple of sixes, but that momentum was quickly stopped by the guile of Ashish Nehra.
The left-armer, who wasn't too impressive in the opening match, hit the right lengths this time out, while varying his pace really well. That led to Billings (12, 9b, 1x6) – caught off a short ball – and Roy (10, 11b, 1x6) – caught at mid-on off a leading edge – falling off successive deliveries, leaving England on 22/2 in the fourth over.
Eoin Morgan and Joe Root's partnership setup England's victory in the opener and the two experienced batsmen went about doing it again. Morgan and Root put on 43 runs together, with it ensuring India would not get the wickets that they craved.
Morgan (17, 23b, 1x4), however, fell to a loose shot off Amit Mishra, in for Parvez Rasool, at the start of the second half of the innings and the leg-spinner should have had two wickets in three balls, when he castled Ben Stokes with a wonderful delivery. Mishra, though, overstepped – an absolute crime for a spinner – and Stokes, instead was given a free hit to get off the mark.
That let-off looked like being really expensive as Stokes found his boundary-hitting range, bringing down the equation to 32 from 24 balls, easy peasy in T20 cricket, with so many wickets in hand.
However, Nehra came in and changed the match completely by taking the wicket of Stokes (38, 27b, 2x4, 2x6), while conceding just five runs.
Bumrah, so disappointing so far in the four limited-overs matches, went one better, by bowling an over from which a mere three runs were taken, with Root struggling to take over the hitting role following the departure of Stokes.
Owing to those two overs, the equation suddenly went from easy to 24 from 12 balls.
While Root's struggles continued, Jos Buttler struck a crucial boundary, before using that big bat of his to great use to clear the ground and pick up a six that meant England needed just eight off the last over.
Bumrah got a lucky lbw to dismiss Root (38, 38b, 2x4) off the first ball, bringing Moeen Ali to the crease. Moeen took the single that England needed to bring Buttler (15, 10b, 1x4, 1x6) on strike, but the game did not go the way England would have expected from there.
A brilliant slower ball from Bumrah befuddled Buttler, before a quicker one had the wickets falling over, leaving Jordan, the hero with the ball, and Ali needing to knock down seven runs from the last two balls.
A swing and a miss and a bye meant six were needed off the last ball. Moeen could not make contact with a low full toss and India celebrated a brilliant win.
India's innings was ragged again, with Rahul the only batsmen coming to terms with the pace of the pitch. However, despite Rahul's solid knock, India could not quite muster up a big partnership, one that would have given the home team a 160 score, instead of the one they finished up with.
Kohli again opened the innings with Rahul and knowing that the latter has found it difficult to score runs in this limited-overs leg, the captain took the aggressor's role. While Kohli can play that role well, for India's best interests, the star man should really be playing the "let the others take the risks, I will play proper cricketing shots and make sure we have an above-par score in the end."
Unfortunately, though, Kohli went for the big shots early and after hitting an astounding six over long-on off the back foot off the bowling of Tymal Mills, the skipper fell, going for a lofted shot. Kohli (21, 15b, 2x4, 1x6) failed to pick up the slower ball from Jordan, and holed out to Liam Dawson at long-on.
Suresh Raina (7, 10b) came in and decided to take his time to get going, but patience ran out eventually and he also fell going for a big hit, with the slog sweep off Adil Rashid's googly working against him.
Rahul, at the other end, though, was finding his feet and he played some wonderful shots, even if Yuvraj Singh struggled. Moeen Ali, having missed out an lbw appeal earlier, trapped him in front after Yuvraj (4, 12b) failed to make contact with an attempted sweep shot.
Manish Pandey (30, 26b, 1x6) was sent in ahead of MS Dhoni, and the right-hander, while not throwing his wicket away, struggled to find the boundaries. Rahul, however, did enough and India, when they were on 105/3 in 14 overs, looked capable of getting to that 160-mark.
England, though, reined the batsmen in again with some outstanding bowling – Ben Stokes, Mills and Jordan were the stars, rather than the spinners – and with MS Dhoni (5, 7b) coming in a little too late, the final over assault fell flat, with just 36 runs coming from the final five overs.
Scores:
India: 144/8 in 20 overs.
England: 139/6 in 20 overs.
Result: India won by 5 runs.
Series: Three-match series tied at 1-1.
Bowling: England: Liam Dawson 2-0-20-0; Tymal Mills 4-0-36-1; Chris Jordan 4-0-22-3; Ben Stokes 3-0-21-0; Moeen Ali 4-0-20-1; Adil Rashid 3-0-24-1.
India: Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-33-0; Ashish Nehra 4-0-28-3; Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-20-2; Amit Mishra 4-0-25-1; Suresh Raina 4-0-30-0.
Fall of wickets: India: 30/1, Virat Kohli (4.1 overs); 56/2, Suresh Raina (7.4 overs); 69/3, Yuvraj Singh (10.3 overs); 125/4, KL Rahul (17.2 overs); 139/5, Manish Pandey (18.5 overs); 143/6, Hardik Pandya (19.3 overs); 144/7, Amit Mishra (19.5 overs); 144/8, MS Dhoni (20 overs).
England: 22/1, Sam Billings (3.1 overs); 22/2, Jason Roy (3.2 overs); 65/3, Eoin Morgan (10.1 overs); 117/4, Ben Stokes (16.5 overs); 137/5, Joe Root (19.1 overs); 138/6, Jos Buttler (19.4 overs).
Watch the highlights of the exciting match HERE
