Skipper Virat’s unbeaten 49-ball 73 and debutant opener Ishan’s 32-ball 56 ensure India chase England’s 164-4 with seven wickets and 13 balls to spare in 2nd T20I and level five-match series 1-1
India captain Virat Kohli during his 49-ball 73 not out against England in the 2nd T20I at Motera yesterday; (right) opener Ishan Kishan slams one during his 32-ball 56. Pics/BCCI
Mumbai Indians’ pocket dynamo Ishan Kishan embraced Virat Kohli’s philosophy to the core to play an explosive knock before the Indian skipper hit form to take India to a thumping seven-wicket win over England in the second T20 international here on Sunday.
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About 100,000 fans left the Narendra Modi Stadium, celebrating their hero—Kohli’s return to form with a match-winning, unbeaten 73 that also marked him completing 3,000 runs in the international T20 format.
Kohli had promised before the five-match series that the top order will play ‘freely’. And, it was a ‘paisa vasool’ performance for the Sunday crowd that almost filled up the 130,000 capacity stadium in Motera.
India’s chase of the 165-run target didn’t start well when KL Rahul once again played away from his body to edge Sam Curran to ‘keeper Jos Buttler without a run on the scoreboard.
Then, the 55-ball 94-run second wicket explosive partnership between Ishan (56, 32 balls, five 4s, four 6s) and Kohli (73 not out, 49 balls, five 4s, three 6s) firmly put India on the victory path.
The Indian batsmen used the long handle to great effect as the umpires were left wiping the ball with sanitisers as many as nine times. The Indian bowlers had provided a perfect platform for their batsmen to express themselves freely. Their clever use of cross seam and slower deliveries worked well as the English batsmen couldn’t break free either at the start or at the death. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave India an early breakthrough in the first over by trapping Buttler in front of the wicket. Kohli then employed four bowlers in the powerplay (6 overs) that yielded only 37 runs. Bhuvneshwar, Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya later choked England, conceding only 35 runs.
Yuzvendra Chahal dashed Jason Roy (46, 35 balls, four 4s, two 6s) and David Mallan’s (24, 23 balls, four 4s) attempt to take the game away when he broke their 47-ball 63-run partnership thanks to DRS earning him a lbw decision against umpire Anil Chaudhary’s ruling.
Washington Sundar accounted for two wickets in the middle overs. He first had Roy at 43, followed by Bairstow (20) who failed to read a slower delivery and was caught by Suryakumar Yadav.
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