Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah bowl India to victory in 2nd England T20I
Nagpur: It was a do-or-die game for the Indians, who were 1-0 down in the best-of-three T20I series against England, and Virat Kohli's men came up with the perfect response.
KL Rahul got the Indian innings off to a good start, scoring 71 from 47 balls. However, some tight bowling by the England bowlers helped them restrict India once again, to what looked like an inadequate total.
However, India struck early on in the innings, with Nehra removing the two openers Jason Roy and Sam Billings. A period of tight bowling by the Indians led to England feeling the pressure as wickets tumbled one after the other.
In the end, it was down to Bumrah and Nehra, both of whom did well to get in the crucial dot-balls. Nehra went for a huge six off the last ball of the 19th over.
There was a lot of pressure on Bumrah's shoulders, as he ran in to bowl the last over. The Englishmen needed only eight runs from six deliveries to wrap-up the series.
However, a mix of slow cutters not only helped pile the pressure on England, but also helped the Bumrah take the crucial wickets of Joe Root and Jos Buttler.
The equation was simple in the end. Moeen Ali needed to hit a six off the last ball. Bumrah hurled it in full and wide, while Moeen missed with a wild swing of his bat, sending the Indians, especially Virat Kohli, into ecstatic celebrations.
England: 139/6 from 20 overs
And that's the end of that. Bumrah hurls it in full and wide, as Moeen Ali swings and misses. the batsmen crossed over for one run, but that was hardly enough for them to secure the three-match series for England. India win by five runs.
England: 138/6 from 19.3 overs
WICKET! Bumrah gets the danger man! Knocks over Jos Buttler's stumps with great disdain!
England: 137/5 from 19.1 overs
WICKET! The danger man is gone. Bumrah traps Root LBW. This is getting close.
England: 137/4 from 19 overs
Root top-edges it again -- this time off Nehra. However, mid-wicket was vacant again, as the ball landed between 3 fielders. Turned out to be expensive in the end, as Buttler managed a six off the last ball.
England: 121/4 from 18 overs
Brilliant over by Bumrah. Piles the pressure right back on England. He bowled four dot balls, which induced Root to play the big shot and top-edge the ball. However, nobody was there at short mid-wicket to take the catch.
England: 118/4 from 17 overs
Nehra back into the attack. and he picks up a wicket immediately. Stokes goes for the big heave on the leg side, as Nehra goes up in appeal. The umpire shows no hesitation in raising his finger.
England: 113/3 from 16 overs
Bumrah tosses it full length, on seeing Stokes coming out. The southpaw smashes it on the leg side for a four. Nine off that over.
England: 104/3 from 15 overs
Chahal completes his quota of overs with a rather expensive over. as Stokes clobbered him for a six on the leg side. 11 off that over.
England: 93/3 from 14 overs
It's all happening here in Nagpur. Raina is not extracting much turn from this pitch, and Stokes takes the perfect advantage of that. Hits the all-rounder for a four and a six off the first two balls. 13 runs from that over. That eased the required rate a bit.
England: 80/3 from 13 overs
Mishra is on a roll. The England batsmen are finding it difficult to read him under the conditions. Just three off that over.
England: 77/3 from 12 overs
Poor bowling by Raina. Bowled a tight over, but two wides towards the start proved to be an expensive affair for the Indians.
England: 69/3 from 11 overs
WICKET! Morgan tried to slog sweep Mishra on the leg side, but the former fooled him with the 'wrong-one'. Pandya takes a good catch in the deep.
The leggie went into ecstacy as he cleanly bowled Ben Stokes as well, but replays showed that he had overstepped the crease while bowling. The umpire signals for a no-ball and a free hit.
England: 66/2 from 10 overs
Another good over by Raina. Just 5 off it. India are tightening the screw, but they need to take wickets, if they hope to win the game.
Mishra waivers his line, and Root punishes him on both occasions for it. two bounderies off that over. However, he came back with a couple of good deliveries.
England: 49/2 from 8 overs
Kohli is mixing it up among the bowlers. Raina puts in a good over, giving away only 5 runs.
The electronic bails have decided to stop working, it seems. MS Dhoni tries again and again, to set them alight by dislodging them off their grooves, but they do not light up. The umpires eventually call for them to be replaced.
England: 44/2 from 7 overs
Mishra into the attack, and the leggie has bowled a good over. There was a slight suspicion of a run out there, as the Indian fielders went up in appeal, led by dhoni. However, replays suggested that Root had made it home rather comfortably.
England: 36/2 from 6 overs
A decent over by Bumrah. Other than the one boundary hit by Morgan on the off side, the medium pacer did well to restrict the England batsmen.
England: 29/2 from 5 overs
The dangerous duo of Root and Morgan are back out on the crease. this time however, they do not have the cushion of a good start by the openers in front of them. Nehra's over has completely changed the match.
England: 22/2 from 3.2 overs
Nehra has done the trick for India! Gets Billings with a surprise short pitched delivery. Roy also top-edged the southpaw, straight at Suresh Raina. He could not get the hattrick though, as England skipper Morgan left the hattrick-ball alone.
England: 22/0 from 3 overs
Billings and Roy have gotten into the attack, attacking the young Chahal. The duo has already hit one six each in Chahal's 2nd over.
England: 7/0 from 2 overs
Another good over by the Indians. Chahal and Nehra have kept the pace-and-spin combination going well at the two ends.
England: 2/0 from 1 overs
Chahal was a revelation in the first T20I and Virat Kohli has shown no hesitation in throwing the ball straight to him, to open the bowling. The youngster has bowled a good opening over, giving away only 2 runs.
India: 144/8 from 20 overs
Chris Jordan did well in the last over to restrict the Indians to 144 in the end. He was involved in the wwo run-outs of Pandya and Amit Mishra, and also managed to bowl over MS Dhoni in the last ball.
India: 139/4 from 19 overs
Looking for the big shots, Manish Pandey tried to make room to smash Mills to the boundary. However, he completely missed Mills' slow delivery as the ball went on to hit the stumps.
India: 129/4 from 18 overs
A very good over by Jordan. Gets the important wicket of Rahul, giving away only 5 runs.
India: 125/4 from 17.2 overs
KL Rahul looks rather disappointed after playing that shot. He timed Chris Jordamn's length ball perfectly, but it was hit straight at Stokes at deep mid-wicket. The opener has done well to score the big runs this innings.
India: 124/3 from 17 overs
Good bowling by stokes, to get those yorkers in. Manish Pandey is failing to time the ball. He is going more for strength, rather than timing, thus failing to get the boundaries.
India: 114/3 from 16 overs
Decent over under the circumstances, by Mills. A good blend of pace and slow bowling meant that the Indian batsmen could only take 6 runs off it.
India: 108/3 from 15 overs
Brilliant over by Stokes. Brings the pressure straight back on the India batsmen. Just three runs from the over.
India: 105/3 from 14 overs
Both Rahul and Pandey are mounting a good counter attack for the moment.
India: 93/3 from 13 overs
Brilliant innings by KL Rahul. The India opener has been the one constant this innings, while wickets kept tumbling around him. Brings up his 50 with a smooth flick off the pads.
India: 83/3 from 12 overs
Rahul is on fire today! Hits one six and one four off Liam Dawson's over.
India: 69/3 from 10.3 overs
Yuvraj goes for the big sweep against Moeen again, and gets wrapped on the pads, just like last time. This time however, the umpire showed no hesitation in raising his finger. Replays suggested that that was plumb.
India: 67/2 from 10 overs
KL Rahul steps out, and smashes Rashid way into the crowd for a six. The England spinner tossed up a juicy full-toss for Rahul.
India: 57/2 from 9 overs
Brilliant over by Moeen. Just one run off it. He got a strong case for an LBW against Yuvraj, but it seemed to be going down the leg stump.
India: 56/2 from 7.3 overs
Raina goes for the big sweep, but only manages to get a thick top-edge to it. Jordan took a good catch at long on to get the wicket.
India: 54/1 from 7 overs
Good running between the wickets between Rania and Rahul helps India get a decent over from Moeen Ali. Eight from that over.
India: 46/1 from 6 overs
Rahul is taking the attack to the England bowlers after Virat Kohli's departure. Suresh Rainia, meanwhile, is playing the sheet anchor role.
India: 37/1 from 5 overs
Virat Kohli's wicket seems to have stemmed the flow of runs for India, though KL Rahul is trying to keep things ticking.
India: 30/0 from 4 overs.
Virat Kohli puts his foot on the accelerator with a six and four in back to back deliveries as India look to get the scoreboard moving.
India: 10/0 from 2 overs.
An early scare for India as Virat Kohli catches a top edge but the fielder at third-man can't get there in time and it's a four.
India: 5/0 from 1 over.
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wk), Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashish Nehra.
England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills.
Toss: England have won the toss and decided to field first.
Nagpur: India are on the back foot for the first time in England’s tour to the country. The hosts find themselves in a situation where they have to win the second T20I against the Three Lions, in order to keep their chances of winning the three-match series alive.
While the Men in Blue completely dominated England in the Test series (won 4-0) and the ODI series (won 2-1), they now find themselves in a completely different scenario, after suffering a comprehensive seven wicket defeat at the hands of the visitors.
Star Batsman Joe Root and captain Eoin Morgan shone with the bat, to guide England to a comfortable win in Kanpur. The England bowlers also churned in good performances, tightening the screws on the Indian batsman, to restrict them to 147 for seven.
From the looks of the first T20I, India are yet to find the proper balance in their batting lineup, which completely crumbled under pressure, in the shortest format of the game.
