Manchester, July 4: Ravi Bishnoi became the perfect party pooper on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s much-hyped debut, conceding 29 runs in an over as England romped home by four wickets against India in the second T20 International here on Saturday.
The 17th over, bowled by a profligate Bishnoi, saw him deliver two no-balls in the first two deliveries. Jacob Bethell (76 not out off 46 balls), keen to make amends for the T20 World Cup semi-final defeat, capitalised on the opportunity, smashing three towering sixes to ensure England completed the chase of 191 with an over to spare.
The afternoon began with anticipation over a 15-year-old Indian’s debut and ended with a 22-year-old talented Englishman’s swift counter-offensive that gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
The chase could not have started on a worse note for the hosts, as Phil Salt and Jos Buttler were snapped up by Arshdeep Singh.
However, to his horror, skipper Harry Brook (39 off 15 balls) was brutal on the seasoned seamer, smashing him for 27 runs, which included three sixes and two boundaries.
While Axar Patel (1/19 in 4 overs) had Brook caught down the leg side by Ishan Kishan, the England skipper had already set the platform for the counter-offensive.
Bethell was then joined by Tom Banton (39 off 32 balls), and the duo handled the Indian spinners with relative ease during their 67-run stand for the fourth wicket.
It also helped that India’s spinners Ravi Bishnoi (0/60 in 4 overs) and Varun Chakravarthy (1/37 in 4 overs) did not match the English spinners, who were slower through the air and off the pitch. Only Axar Patel held his own.
Bishnoi and Chakravarthy bowled flat and quick on a skiddy surface, which made it easier for both Bethell and Banton to rock back and execute their shots. However, Chakravarthy did redeem himself in the final over when he removed Will Jacks which turned out to be an important moment in the game.
However skipper Shreyas Iyer’s tactical move to bring in Arshdeep in the 13th over for his second spell, worked wonders as Banton picked the fielder at deep extra cover to bring India back in the game.
But Bishnoi’s over dashed all hopes of a win.
Earlier, Tilak Varma’s last-over heroics ensured a decent 190 for 7 for India after Iyer opted to bat first.
Tilak (24 n.o. off 11 balls), whose batting approach has been heavily criticised, smashed Jofra Archer (1/40 in 4 overs) for 17 in the 20th over to take India to a respectable total even though it might have slightly below the par score of 200.
The extra bounce and cross winds on a skiddy surface did make batting difficult as the world saw the first glimpse of a 15-year-old debutant, who broke Sachin Tendulkar’s nearly 37-year-old record, at international stage. However, his stay was restricted to 10 balls in which he collected two sixes and a couple of singles to manage 14 before being stumped by Jos Buttler off off-spinner Will Jacks. Abhishek Sharma (43 off 24 balls), skipper Shreyas Iyer (37 off 22 balls) and Ishan Kishan (49 off 43 balls) all scored some runs but only looked comfortable in patches with England bowlers mixing it up quite nicely. (PTI)
