Ravindra Jadeja’s fighting knock followed by a clinical bowling effort led India to an impressive 49-run win over England in the second T20I and 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-match series, here on Saturday.
Riding on Jadeja’s innings (46 not out off 29), India posted a decent 170/8 in 20 overs, after being invited to bat first. Apart from Jadeja, Rohit Sharma (31 off 20) and Rishabh Pant (26 off 15) were the other main scorers for India.
Defending a challenging total, Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck with the first ball of the innings, getting the dangerous Jason Roy caught at slip. In his very next over, he took the big wicket of Jos Buttler through an under-edge, which Pant was sharp to spot and force India to go for the review. That was the fifth time Bhuvneshwar had Buttler’s number.
Jashprit Bumrah, who was back in the fold after a long Test as captain, followed up Bhuvneshwar’s twin strikes with the wicket of Liam Linvingstone, who was undone and bowled by a slow off-cutter, and later with the wicket of dangerous Sam Curran.
Yuzvendra Chahal, into the attack immediately after the PowerPlay, deceived Harry Brook in the air and had him caught in the deep as India’s bowlers continued to pick wickets through the middle overs.
From there on, England never looked in contention to chase the winning total. Moeen Ali (35 off 21) and David Willey (33 not out off 22) tried hard but it was not enough as England were bowled out for 121 all out in 17 overs, losing by a huge margin of 49 runs.
Bhuvneshwar, who finished with 3 for 15, was adjudged the Player of the Match while Jasprit Bumrah (2/10) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/10) and Harshal Patel (1/34) were the other wicket-takers for India.
Earlier, India’s new opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant gave India an attacking start. Both Rohit and Pant picked their spots, maximising the powerplay as David Willey and Moeen Ali faced some heat.
It was Richard Gleeson, the oldest T20I debutant for England, who gave hosts their first breakthrough by dismissing Rohit in the fifth over of the innings. Despite Rohit’s wicket, Pant went down the track and smacked a length delivery by Moeen over long-off for a smashing six as India crossed the 50-run mark.
However, Gleeson came back to claim the wicket of Kohli (1) courtesy of a superb catch by David Malan at backward point. In the very next ball, Pant stepped out to Gleeson but got an inside edge to the keeper, leaving India struggling at 69/3.
Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya had the job to take over things from there and they put on a small partnership of 28 runs but Chris Jordan’s double-strike dented the Indians’ hopes further. Jordan first picked Yadav with a short ball and then Pandya cut another one straight to point.
At 89-5, India were in a spot of bother and Jadeja and Dinesh Karthik needed to bat deep to take the visitors to a competitive score. During his stay at the crease, Karthik (12) wasn’t able to rotate strike properly before he got run out to a Harry Brook throw.
However, Jadeja held one end up and added useful runs with the rest of the batters to push India to 170-8 in 20 overs. Chris Jordan (4-27) and Richard Gleeson (3-15) were the wicket-takers for England.
Brief scores: India 170/8 in 20 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 46 not out, Rohit Sharma 31; Chris Jordan 4-27) beat England 121 all out in 17 overs (Moeen Ali 35, David Willey 33 not out; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/15) by 49 runs
