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India vs England 2nd T20I match has concluded in Manchester at the Emirates Old Trafford. Shreyas Iyer’s side's low string of T20I matches continued as the skipper is still searching for his first win as a T20I captain for the side. England beat India by 4 wickets in the 2nd T20I as they take a lead in the 5-match T20I series.
Shreyas Iyer once again won the toss and opted to bat first. The Men in Blue side just made one change, with the much-awaited Vaibhav Sooryavanshi debut happened as Sanju Samson had to make way for the youngest-ever at the age of 15 years and 99 days to earn an official debut for the senior India men's cricket team.
Abhishek Sharma's purple patch continues
After opting to bat first, Vaibhav and Abhishek Sharma were off to a flying start, scoring 50 runs inside the first five overs, with both of them struck the ball hard. Sooryavanshi, despite getting the start, failed to convert to a big score on his debut match and was dismissed for 14 off 10 balls. Abhishek continued the charge and was out after a well-made 43 off 24 balls.
Later, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan built a partnership of 65 off 42 deliveries as Iyer was dismissed after scoring 37 off 22 deliveries, smashing three boundaries and one six, and put India in a good position. Shivam Dube could not get going on a wicket that went slow and tricky, as he was dismissed on five runs.
Kishan also went back one short of his fifty, out on 49 off 40 deliveries. Tilak Varma’s fiery 24 off 11 deliveries helped the Men in Blue score 190/7 in their 20 overs on a wicket that had been sticky in the middle overs.
Jacob Bethell stands tall for England
While chasing, Shreyas Iyer’s side had the best start, with Phil Salt back for a golden duck as Arshdeep Singh picked the wicket on the very first delivery of the second innings. Jos Buttler followed his fellow opener as he was also back for a three-ball duck as Arshdeep picked his second wicket in the first over.
Then Harry Brook counter-attacked Arshdeep Singh, scoring 27 runs off the third over of the game. He scored a swashbuckling knock of 38 off 14 deliveries and was dismissed by Axar Patel, who completed his 100 T20I wickets after picking the dangerous wicket.
Tom Banton and Jacob Bethell’s 67-run partnership was broken by Arshdeep, who dismissed the former on 39 runs. Bethell played an unbeaten knock of 76 runs off 46 balls, smashing 5 fours and as many sixes, and sealed the game for the side with one over to spare.
"I think we all know where it went away"- Shreyas Iyer points out game-changing over for loss against England
Shreyas Iyer points out that India were well into the game till the 15th over, but a 29-run over from Ravi Bishnoi changed the course of the match, and England took the game away as the India captain lauded Jacob Bethell's innings.
Shreyas Iyer stated, "I think we all know where it went away but I don't want to pinpoint a particular player. I was like, okay he's going to come back strong after that (the first no ball). But the 17th over haunted us. But he'll learn. I think it was a phenomenal score on this pitch with variable bounce."
"First 15 overs we were on top of the game but suddenly - credit to the way Jacob played. They analysed the dimensions of the ground and the wicket early. He was bowling right outside off stump, and that was very well planned (Curran)."
"He's got that unflinching attitude where he's fearless. The way he bats in the nets... something to learn out of him. I wasn't anticipating him to be nervous. Absolutely, I'm always in high spirits and I know that this is the lowest you can go."
