CHENNAI: As India sealed the T20I series against England on Saturday, skipper Rohit Sharma said they want to give players who are waiting in the wings and that after discussing with head coach Rahul Dravid they would decide how to approach the third T20I.
And that is exactly what him and Dravid did as they made four changes on Sunday, with Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi and Shreyas Iyer coming in for Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya — all four who’d walk into a first XI at this point.
As India went into the game with just five bowling options, it seemed clear they were testing the waters.
On a pitch that had very little seam movement and small boundaries, the team management could not have asked for a better challenge against a batting line-up that thrives in these conditions.
With England opting to bat first, Jos Buttler, who struggled against Bhuvneshwar, welcomed Umran with two fours and a six in one over.
If there is one thing that doesn’t trouble Buttler, it was the high-end pace.
After all, Umran has excelled at taking wickets mostly in the middle-overs during the IPL. Bishnoi had to be brought in early, but it was Avesh who removed the England opener with an off-cutter. And that was cue for Indian pacers to pull the length back and stick to cutters.
While Harshal Patel implemented it better than most, David Malan (77) and Liam Livingstone (42) hit others to the ropes for fun.
Dawid Malan made a sublime 77 off 39 balls as England put India's second string attack to sword to finish with a mammoth 215 for seven.
The one who suffered the most was Ravindra Jadeja (45/0), who hasn’t been a four-over bowler in recent years.
If Hardik is in the XI, Jadeja could be a handy death overs hitter who can roll his arm.
However, without him, Jadeja, as a batting all-rounder would longer the tail and Sunday, seemed like a testing stage to see how it might go. And the end result was not what the spinner would have wished for as England smashed 215/7 in 20 overs.
In the batting department, intent — something that was the first word for the Indian team management in the last few years, but struggled to implement in the shortest format — seemed the message for every batter in the team, from Rohit and Virat Kohli at the top to Jadeja down the order.
The top-order duo, who generally like to take some time to settle in the past, were trying to show intent with the bat from ball one; even at the cost of losing their wicket. It was evident throughout the series that Sunday was no different. Kohli hit consecutive boundaries — a four and a six — off David Willey before getting out trying to score another boundary off the third delivery.
Suryakumar Yadav picked up from there, and put on a masterclass of range-hitting, taking every England bowler to the cleaners. As he became the fifth Indian to score a T20I century (117), India were catching up after a slow start in the powerplay.
India's innings ended at 198 for nine in 20 overs.
India sealed the three-match series 2-1, having won in Southampton and Birmingham.
Although India lost by 17 runs in the end, with every passing game, it seems more and more evident that Dravid and Rohit have a roadmap for India in the shortest format. And it is slowly, but steadily being put in place.
India were on the backfoot at the start of the run chase, struggling to 31 for three in five overs.
Openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Rishabh Pant (1) perished cheaply and it was another failure for Virat Kohli (11), who was caught at cover while trying to manufacture a third consecutive hit after collecting a four and a straight six off David Willey.
Suryakumar brought India back into the game with a 119-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (28 off 23) who was a spectator to his partner's brilliance for the major part of the partnership.
As he often does, Suryakumar toyed with the opposition bowlers and picked his shots all around the ground.
The highlights of his glorious innings was the two lofted square drives off pacers Richard Gleeson and Chrish Jordan that went all the way for six.
He became the fifth Indian to score a hundred in T20 Internationals by opening the face of the bat and guiding a low full toss off Willey between backward point and short third man.
His innings comprised 14 fours and half a dozen sixes.
Suryakumar single-handedly brought the equation down to gettable 66 off 30 balls before running out of partners at the other end.
Brief scores: England 215/7 in 20 ovs (Malan 77; Bishnoi 2/30) vs India 198/9 in 20 ovs (Suryakumar 117; Topley 3/22).
(With PTI Inputs)