AHMEDABAD : It was a completely different team dynamic from India that was implemented in yesterday’s T20 where they went with the ‘explosive’ players who are actually known to play in that fashion. India brought in Kishan and Suryakumar for their debut games and England replaced Wood with Tom Curran.
India won a good toss to field first because the batting did get easier in the second innings as the deliveries came on to the bat pretty well as opposed to a slightly slower wicket in the first half of the match.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was back, bowling in the the good areas again during his first over itself. He dismissed Butler with a delivery that was straight enough to strike the batsman on his pads and that went on to hit the leg stump in the hawk-eye. Along with Bhuvi, Washington bowled two economical overs but consistent ones and twos took England to a score of 44/1 by the end of six overs. Both Malan and Roy were actually looking dangerous against spin until the former was dismissed in the ninth over. England could have capitalized in the middle overs and made use of the start that was provided to them but quick wickets taken by Sundar meant that the batsmen at the crease were relatively new when the time came for them to unleash the big shots.
India bowled particularly well in the death where they gave the English batsman no pace to benefit with and a clear plan to Stokes and Morgan was to bowl wide along with no deliveries bowled in the slot. England finished their 20 overs at 164/6 thanks to the late dismissals by Shardul at the back end.
Chasing 164 was not going to be steep chase but the intent with which the batsmen scored did matter because only then can you differ from your one-day and T20 approach. A new opening pair of Ishan Kishan and Rahul were to begin proceedings for India but before they could do so, Rahul played out a maiden and was dismissed on the final ball of that over by Sam Curran. After that, what you would have seen was an absolute carnage from the debutant Kishan. There was an over against Tom Curran where he lifted a delivery outside the off stump for a six over long-on and another delivery that was in the same line but a little shorter was punched strongly in front of covers. He was not shy to use the leg side, pulled a slow bouncer into the stands and also swept against Adil Rashid. What stood out was his hard-hitting ability against any bowler that could leave his impression on an opposition.
As the youngster was enjoying his time, the master chaser was building his knock with timed boundaries and quick ones and twos. Pant was sent above Iyer to maintain the tempo which Ishan created and he did not disappoint. A quick 26 off 12 ensured that the need to score in the final overs was not really a concern. These are the type of players that Kohli needs alongside him as he anchors the innings towards the end. As the captain hooked a delivery behind square leg for six, India raced to victory with thirteen balls remaining.
brief scores : England 164/6 in 20 overs : Roy 46 (35) ; Sundar 4-0-29-2
India 166/3 in 17.5 overs : Kohli 73 (49) ; S Curran 4-1-22-1
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Kanishk Sharma 