India vs England 2021, 2nd T20I – Who Said What

The 2nd T20I between India and England got staged in Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad and hosts couldn’t have marked a blistering comeback in the series. India won the game by seven wickets and levelled the series 1-1. Winning the toss, skipper Virat Kohli invited the guests to show up with willow first wherein they put up a respectable total of 164 runs. Jason Roy shouldered major responsibilities with the bat as he played a crucial knock of 46 runs.

Debutant Ishan Kishan was declared as the player of the match for his terrific knock of 56 runs of 32 balls and run machine Virat Kohli coming back to his classy form was the major highlight for the India team. Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar picked two wickets each for the team and Bhuvneshwar Kumar turned out to be most economical one.

Kohli-Kishan duo brought all the luck for India

Chasing down the target, hosts had everything going good for them apart from KL Rahul leaving the crease so early. Debutant Kishan turned all the momentum towards India before Kohli added the cherry to the cake with his stunning knock of 73 runs of 43 balls.. The duo shared a terrific partnership of 94 runs to get team over the line. Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, and Adil Rashid picked one wicket each while helping out their team.

Winning skipper, Virat Kohli said-

We ticked all the boxes we wanted to and to give away only 34 in the last five overs is very special effort. Special mention to Washi and everyone chipped in and all in all very happy with the bowling and batting as well. It did come onto the bat a bit better in the second innings and the slower balls stopped gripped and special mention to Ishan the way he batted. I tried to do what I can but he kept following his instincts and it was a quality innings on debut. When you play in the IPL with such dominance like he has and he is a fearless character and he knew that he was hitting the ball well and he is very calculated and not reckless.

Today that counterattacking innings from him and that partnership was needed. I had to shift the focus back to the basics of the game and I always take pride in doing the job for the team. Just kept my eyes on the ball and my wife is here and she keeps telling me a lot of things and also I had a chat with ABD before the start of the game and he just told me to watch the ball. He has worked really hard on his fitness and next few months he is gonna be a vital part of this team moving forward in all three formats. He plays for the team all the time and those kind of players are priceless. They were always in the game and you gotta be really precise in this format which is what we did today

Losing skipper, Eoin Morgan said-

We were probably in and around par, but India bowled well and there’s slightly less pace today on the pitch. They put us on the back foot from the start and pace off the ball is always challenging for players. I am glad we played on this wicket, but little disappointed with the way we played. There’s always advantage in chasing statistically and the disappointing area is we couldn’t counter the opposition attack in the first ten overs. The two guys at the top always try and be aggressive as they can and stick with the process. We were always gonna miss him and hopefully he will be fit before the next game. We will be practicing and the next game is on red soil and there might be more turn.

Player of the match, Ishan Kishan said-

 Credit goes to my seniors who told me to go and express myself. It’s not easy to come and play your first game against a quality side. Mumbai Indians helped me a lot and I want to continue the momentum. Wanted to finish the game and I knew there is a senior player batting superbly at the other end. I was disappointed with the fact that I didn’t finish the game. The shot that I smashed Tom for a six off his first ball, that was special. I don’t know if I’m gonna get this feeling again (on making debut for India), but really proud and happy and I want to thank all my coaches, seniors and everyone who helped me get here. Now it’s my time to show them what I’ve got. Coach’s dad passed away a few days back and he always said that you have to go out and score and I want to dedicate this award to him.