ENG vs IND 2018: England Played Kuldeep Yadav More Carefully - Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal, on Friday, said minimising mistakes helped England win the second T20I in Cardiff and level the three-match series.

With the series on the line, England came up with an excellent performance to beat India by five wickets. Right from the toss till the winning runs, almost everything went well for the hosts. Eoin Morgan’s decision to bowl first turned out to a good one. India were three down with just 22 runs on the board.

The visitors managed to stop the rot but could not bat freely after losing so many early wickets.

As a result, they could only manage a modest 148 for five in the allotted 20 overs. Virat Kohli top-scored for India, hitting 47 while MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32.

In reply, England were in trouble after being down to 44 for three. However, Alex Hales’ unbeaten 58 took them home with two balls to spare. One of the notable aspects about the English batting was that they did not lose any wicket to Kuldeep Yadav.

The chinaman had blown away the hosts in the series-opener, taking five for 24. However, he went wicketless for 34 in Cardiff.

Speaking after the game, Chahal said playing against Kuldeep better was key to England victory.

“Kuldeep had bowled really well in the last game, but in this game, they played him more carefully. They chose which delivery they wanted to play or not play. In the last game, they made too many mistakes, but they have also come here to improve and play,” he said.

“This time around they took calculated risks against Kuldeep. They did not hit out against him in the first three overs. Only in his last over, they hit out because at that stage we also had a chance to win the game. The fact that with a target of just 150-odd we took the game to the last over means we bowled well,” he added.

The wicket at Cardiff was a bit different from the last game in Manchester. There was a little layer of grass due to which India’s top-order failed to get going.

“The wicket was a bit helpful for the medium pacers because it was a seaming wicket. There was a good bounce. So, you will see that neither team was able to score big in the powerplay. You can say that we could have defended 150 if we could have prevented those 2-3 sixes in the end,” Chahal said.

Chahal went on to lavish praise on Umesh Yadav who has impressed since making his comeback in T20Is recently. The pacer dismissed both Jason Roy and Jos Buttler cheaply to bring India in the game.

“If you see the way Umesh bhai has been bowling from the IPL, and even in the Afghanistan Test, he has been very confident in his bowling. This is only his third international T20 match since 2012, but you can see the maturity level at which he is bowling, both at the start and in the death overs. The kind of start we want in the first six overs, he is delivering wickets for us,” Chahal said.

Both the teams will now move to Bristol for the third T20I where the series will get decided.