Spinners troubled England once again, but on this occasion, it was Tilak Varma who turned out to be India’s hero at the Chepauk in Chennai on Saturday.
After England finished at 165/9, India were under serious pressure at 78/5 in the 10th over after captain Suryakumar Yadav and senior pro Hardik Pandya were dismissed cheaply. But Tilak, going in at No.3, held firm.
He stitched three crucial partnerships — 38 for the sixth wicket with Washington Sundar, 20 for the eighth with Arshdeep Singh and an unbroken 20 with Ravi Bishnoi (9 not out) to remain unbeaten on 72 off 55 balls and earn India a two-wicket win in this second T20I for a 2-0 lead in the series.
Jofra Archer’s direction-less short-pitched stuff certainly helped Tilak as a few of his top edges earned him some maximums. Also, Adil Rashid dropped a sitter at mid-on in the 13th over of India’s reply to give a reprieve to Washington, who was on 10 then.
Following that, Washington smashed Mark Wood for a six and a couple of fours to ease the equation for India and also take pressure off Tilak.
Brydon Carse bowled well to bring England back in the game with the wickets of Surya, Dhruv Jurel (coming in for Rinku Singh) and Washington. But it was not enough.
Needless strokes from vice-captain Axar Patel and Arshdeep again put pressure back on Tilak, but he dealt with it even better. He ensured he had most of the strike, while Bishnoi too did his bit at the other end with two boundaries.
Earlier, India won the toss once again and opted to bowl first. And just as he did in the series opener at the Eden last Wednesday, Arshdeep extracted extra bounce to dismiss opener Phil Salt once again.
Spin was in operation from the fourth over itself and Washington found success right away, inducing a nothing shot from Ben Duckett, the other opener. However, Jos Buttler, who was England’s lone warrior in the first T20I, kept finding the big strokes.
The talented Harry Brook looked good again with a four and a six, but was cleaned up by Varun Chakravarthy (2/38) for the second time on the trot. India were again firmly on top when Axar picked up both Buttler and Liam Livingstone, with the scoreboard reading 90/5 in the 12th over. With Washington being the fourth spinner in the XI, India were well in with a chance to restrict England to 130-odd.
Jamie Smith, making his T20I debut coming in as Jacob Bethell’s replacement, looked solid but threw it away off part-timer Abhishek Sharma’s bowling. But thanks to Carse’s 17-ball 31, which included three huge sixes, England could somehow go past 160 at least.
Had a few of their batters been a little more careful with their shot selection, England could surely have scored another 20 runs or so.
Reddy out
Medium-pacer all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the series with a side strain he sustained during training on Friday at the Chepauk. Reddy has been replaced by Shivam Dube in the squad.
Rinku Singh, down with a lower-back spasm, is ruled out at least till the third T20I. Ramandeep Singh has also been added to the squad.
