India v England, 2nd T20I - 5 Talking Points

After a comprehensive victory in the first T20 at Kanpur, the visitors England were on the hunt to take an unassailable lead in the series in the second game at the VCA stadium in Nagpur. Similar to the last game, England won the toss and asked India to bat on a slow surface which was expected to produce turn and low bounce.

The batsmen found it extremely hard to time the ball as the bowlers inflicted the slower balls. Just one batsman in the form of KL Rahul was able to tackle the slowness of the deck and some good death bowling from England restricted India’s score to 144/8.

England in the chase looked like cruising to another win when Joe Root and Ben Stokes constructed a half-century partnership for the 4th wicket but some amazing death bowling by Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah pulled the game in India’s favor. The game went to the last ball and India managed to clinch a close one by 5 runs to level the 3-match series at one apiece with a game to go. Here are the 5 talking points from the game:

1. Rahul’s lone battle

The English bowlers had their plans well in place for the slow pitch and each batsman struggled to find timing. Despite all the difficulty, Rahul looked unflustered and made batting look easy and it was only due to his efforts did India achieve a fighting total. Kohli struck a couple of good shots but was dismissed soon after that and was followed by Raina and Yuvraj in quick succession.

Rahul initially played a steady hand and held one end and went after the bowling only after getting the feel of the pace of the pitch. He then hit some wonderful shots and it appeared from his batting as if there were no demons in the surface at all. He scored a brilliant 71 off 47 balls with six fours and 2 sixes. It was an important inning for the right-hander as there was a flurry of low scores from him previous to the match.

Also check out- Twitter Reactions: Bumrah helps India secure a thrilling last ball win

2. Chris Jordan’s brilliant bowling

The fast bowler enjoyed a wonderful time in Nagpur as the pitch was tailor-made for his style of bowling. In his first over, he was denied the wicket of Kohli when the umpire refused a plumb lbw shout. In the very next over, he got his man with a brilliant slower delivery that forced a mistimed shot from Kohli that ended up in the hands of mid-on.

Later in the slog overs, he dismissed the set batsman Rahul, again off a slower ball and gave away just 5 runs in the 18th over. The last over of the innings had MS Dhoni at the crease and Jordan did not allow him to get going. India lost two wickets in run-outs in the form of Hardik Pandya and Amit Mishra as Dhoni looked to farm the strike. Off the last ball, he was bowled off the inside edge, courtesy another slower ball from Jordan that took his figures to 22/3 in 4 overs.

3. The No-ball that almost hurt India

Amit Mishra was bowling beautifully and had picked up the crucial wicket of Eoin Morgan off the first ball of the 11th over. One ball later, he got Ben Stokes out bowled off a superb wrong un from around the wicket that foxed the batsman completely. Mishra was overjoyed by the incident and went for a run all over the park until the point the umpire stopped the batsman to have a look at the front foot.

The replays showed that no part of the foot was either grounded or in the air behind the popping crease and it was declared as a no-ball. Mishra was gutted and he had only himself to blame as it is nothing short of a crime for a spinner to overstep. Stokes got a reprieve and he made the Indians pay heavily for the mistake and gave hopes of a victory to his side and almost pulled off a victory.

4. Ashish Nehra’s experience came into play

England had gotten off to a good start with the openers smacking two sixes off Chahal in the 3rd over. Nehra in the next over saw Billings coming down the track and banged the ball in short and induced a top edge that flew to Jasprit Bumrah at fine leg who took an easy catch. Very next ball, the other opener Jason Roy couldn’t adjust to the slow rising delivery and hit it straight to  Raina at mid-wicket.

At the death, when the equation was going into the favor of England, he produced a magnificent over and conceded just 5 runs and got the danger man Stokes out trapped in front of the stumps. In the penultimate over, he began well by giving away just 4 runs off the first 3 balls but Jos Buttler hammered him for a four and a six that hampered his figures to 28/3.

5. Bumrah’s brilliance under pressure

India’s slog overs specialist Jasprit Bumrah played the central role in bringing India back into the game. England needed 41 runs off 30 balls just when he was brought back into the attack. Stokes was flourishing and collected 9 runs off him. But Stokes was dismissed by Nehra that made it difficult for the new batsman to time the strokes.

In the 18th over, Bumrah produced a magical over and went for only 3 runs against Joe Root and Jos Buttler. But the best was saved for the end as only 8 runs were needed from the last over. He sent the set batsman Root back off the very first ball and the new man Moeen Ali was in. Off the 4th ball, he dismantled the stumps of Buttler and turned it in India’s favor. Last 2 balls, when 7 runs were required, his slower balls did not let the batsmen even connect with the bat and won it by 5 runs.

He was adjudged the man of the match for his figures of 20/2 and especially for the masterful death bowling.