Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 46 and sensational bowling from Bhuvi & Co help Rohit Sharma’s team beat England by 49 runs in second T20I and clinch three-match series
India’s Virat Kohli returns to the pavilion after being dismissed for one in the second T20I on Saturday. Pic/Rana Ghosal; (right) India’s Ravindra Jadeja en route his unbeaten 46 against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
At a venue where the Indian bowlers could not defend 378 in the fifth and final Test just a few days ago, their bowling attack did exceedingly well to demolish the supposedly strong and attacking England batting line-up to win the second T20I match by 49 runs at Edgbaston and seal the three-match series with the last game to be played at Nottingham today.
It seemed at the halfway stage when India struggled to put up a fighting score of 170, the supposedly rampaging England batsmen would just canter to victory. But the home batsmen, who had promised so much, failed to come good for the second successive time. Their top–order failed again with Jason Roy falling first ball to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and soon Bhuvi had captain Jos Buttler caught behind. There on, the home team kept losing wickets, both to pacers and spinners and again came up short much to the disappointment of the English supporters, who had flocked to see their team get the better of the Indians and even up the series before going to Nottingham for the final match.
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Gleeson’s amazing debut
India, after making four changes to the winning combination on Saturday, were jolted by a 34-year-old debutant fast bowler Richard Gleeson. His first three international wickets were Rohit Sharma , Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant in a matter of four deliveries which pulled back India after they were galloping along with Rohit and Pant going great guns. When Rohit and Pant, who came in for Ishan Kishan, made a fluent start, it seemed India were on their way to a big total, which they needed to put the aggressive England team under pressure. Gleeson finished with a magical three for15. Then it was Chris Jordon’s turn to torment the Indian batsmen and soon had them down to 89 for five.
Also Read: ENG vs IND 1st T20I: England skipper Jos Buttler praises Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Jadeja cuts loose
Thereafter, Jadeja batted sensibly to post his highest T20 score of 46 not out from just 29 balls with five fours to give India a fighting total. But there is no doubt that with a restructured batting line-up, India after having posted almost 200 with a relatively lesser experienced team and in more helpful conditions for the bowlers struggled to post a fighting total.
The Indian team management which had rested the top five Test players for the first T20I had to take tough decision to break the winning combination in order to bring in established players. But the most glaring was the dropping of Deepak Hooda for a struggling Virat Kohli. And that affected the balance of the batting line-up. After Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant had given India a solid start of 49 in five overs, it required Kohli to build upon that.
Kohli flops again
But a reckless shot off only his third ball saw the former India captain return to the pavilion. And with Pant also falling the next delivery, the visitors were on the back foot. It was then a struggle to post a competitive total. Luckily for India, the bowlers rose to the occasion in the second successive game that helping India notch up another comprehensive win to take an unbeatable lead in the three-match T20I series.
Brief scores
India 170-8 in 20 overs (R Jadeja 46*, R Sharma 31; C Jordan 4-27, R Gleeson 3-15) beat England 121 in 17 overs (M Ali 35, D Willey 33*; B Kumar 3-15) by 49 runs
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