Jasprit Bumrah and Ashish Nehra bowled a few of terrific overs at the death to somehow hand India a victory over England in the 2nd T20. That win means the third T20 international has now become a winner-take-all contest, adding that extra bit of spice to an already heated series.
Also read: India vs England playing XI
While this T20 series so far hasn't been the high-scoring, slam-bang series that most expected, especially after the amount of runs that were scored in the ODIs, it has been engrossing.
Also read: India vs England 3rd T20 live streaming information
England should really already have wrapped up the series, after their comprehensive win in the first T20 and dominating much of the second match. While Eoin Morgan pointed fingers at a couple of umpiring decisions that went against England, there really was no excuse for the batsmen not to fashion the eight runs that were needed from the last five balls.
Yes, Joe Root was wrongly given out lbw, but you would back the batting team any day of the year, when all they need is eight runs from five balls, with two pretty good batsmen at the crease.
So, what England need to do is look at the way they handled that chase when they were put under pressure, identify the mistakes and make sure they don't repeat it in Bengaluru.
India will know they escaped with a win in that second T20 and are still lucky that this series is alive.
For the second match in a row, the batting flattered to deceive, largely because the balance of this India lineup is completely off.
Virat Kohli has played match-winning innings after match-winning innings for India at No.3; Kohli has also scored bulk of those runs by playing calculated cricket, not by going all guns blazing from the first ball, like he has done over the last two matches.
The ideal scenario for India would be to play a swashbuckling opener with KL Rahul, take the pressure off Kohli, who can then play his game, and go from there. In Rishabh Pant, there is an opening option for India, a batsman who can go gung-ho from the first ball and really tonk that ball out of the ground.
Unfortunately, India haven't taken up that option in the first two T20s, and while Manish Pandey has been unlucky to be played in the wrong batting position – he needs to play in the top three in T20 cricket – bringing in Pant and letting Kohli come at No.3 should make this batting lineup look a lot better.
India vs England 2nd T20:
Date: February 1, 2017.
Time: 7pm IST, 1.30pm GMT, 8.30am ET.
Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru (Bangalore).
TV listings:
India: Star Sports HD1, Star Sports 1, Star Sports HD3 and Star Sports 3.
England: Sky Sports 2.
USA and Canada: Willow TV.
Middle East: OSN Sports Cricket HD.
New Zealand: Sky Sport 1.
Australia: Fox Sports 3.
South Africa: SuperSport6.
