ENG vs IND 2018, 2nd T20I: Alex Hales Help England Level Series at Cardiff

England registered a nerve-wracking victory in the 2nd T20I against India to keep their hopes alive in the three-match series.

It was a stunning knock from Alex Hales which eventually ensured England reached the target of 149 in the final over. Early in the day, it was an impressive performance by the English bowlers to restrict India to 148. The Indian bowlers fought hard but eventually fell short in the end.

The visitors began in the worst possible manner losing opener Rohit Sharma in the final delivery of the 2^nd overs. Both the openers struggled quite a bit to get going. Eventually, it was Jake Ball who sent Rohit back to the pavilion. KL Rahul joined Shikhar Dhawan and the duo was unable to make use of the powerplay. Dhawan was run out courtesy a brilliant throw from Eoin Morgan.

The man in form KL Rahul also failed to capitalise on his great form and got dismissed by a good delivery from Liam Plunkett. Rahul went for an expansive drive, and the ball went through his defence.

India was in real trouble with three wickets down for just 22 runs on the board. Two experienced campaigners, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, were at the crease. They batted quite sensibly and shared 57-run partnership between each other.

Dhoni and Kohli steady India’s ship 

Just when the partnership was looking to flourish, Raina got dismissed by Adil Rashid. MS Dhoni joined Kohli and the duo seemed to resurrect the innings with the score reading 79/4.

Virat Kohli was going well until he got dismissed just three short of a well-deserved half-century. India needed a late blitz from either Dhoni or a Hardik Pandya to get them over the 150-mark. They didn’t quite manage to achieve the feat and finished on 148 in their allotted 20 overs.

MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32 off 24 deliveries which included five fours. David Willey and Liam Plunkett were the pick of the bowlers for England with a wicket each and conceded 17 and 18 runs, respectively.

Jason Roy began with a couple of exceptional shots which included a superb six. However, Umesh Yadav came back to haunt him yet again, as he castled him with a scorcher of a delivery.

England make it 1-1

The most important wicket for India came when Jos Buttler played two false shots and ended up giving a straightforward catch to Virat Kohli. He missed it when he played the uppish shot for the first time.

However, Buttler wasn’t going to miss the next time around, as grabbed the catch safely. The hosts lost Joe Root just when the spinner was introduced after the powerplay as England got reduced to 44/3 in 6.5 overs.

Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales shared an efficient partnership from there on which helped England stay in the game. The target wasn’t huge, and sensible batting meant they would reach the target.

Morgan was dismissed by Hardik Pandya for just 17. However, the match-turning innings was played by Jonny Bairstow. He smashed two consecutive sixes off Kuldeep Yadav to bring the target down to a manageable margin.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar again helped India claw their way back into the match with a stunning 17th over. He conceded just seven runs.

However, England was back in the game with Alex Hales smashing some stunning shots. He hit the 1st ball of the last over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar outside the stadium and then struck a four to win the match for the hosts. Hence the final game will be the decider.

Brief Scores 

India 148/5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 47, MS Dhoni 32*, Liam Plunkett 1/17, David Willey 1/18)

England 149/5 in 19.4 overs (Alex Hales 58*, Umesh Yadav 2/36)

England won by five wickets (with two deliveries to spare)