
Tilak Varma's brilliant 72 not out and a handy 26 from Washington Sundar down the order helped India to a thrilling win over England by two wickets in the second T20I at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Saturday. India lead the five match series 2-0. When six runs was required off the last over from Jamie Overton, Varma took a brace before hitting the next ball to the boundary to seal the win. Playing with the lower order and the tail is an art and Varma showed his maturity in handling the same. For England, an all-round display by Brydon Carse (31 and 3/29) went in vain.
When the hosts skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and inserted the opposition in, it was expected to be another trial by spin. Would England fold against the tweakers for the second time in a matter of days after their meek surrender in Kolkata in the first match of the series? The answer? Yes. And no.
They managed to hit them with ease but whenever they didn't connect cleanly, they still ended up giving away wickets to them as all of Axar (2/32), Varun Chakravarthy (2/38), Washington Sundar (1/9) and Abhishek Sharma (1/12) bowled in tandem and picked up six wickets among themselves to restrict England to 165 for 9 in 20 overs. With the luxury of four spinners at his disposal, Suryakumar Yadav kept shuffling them vigorously. This did not allow the incoming England batters to settle down.
Varun Chakravarthy troubled Buttler and Harry Brook before castling with a delivery that snuck in through bat and pad. It invited a quizzical reaction from Brook but Chakravarthy knew what he was doing. After this soft dismissal, Buttler lost his concentration and holed out. From then on it was a virtual march past.
Chasing 166, India began on a positive note with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma striking the ball well. Abhishek straightway got into the act by striking Jofra Archer for three boundaries in the very first over. But his joy was short lived as he fell leg before in the very next over to Mark Wood, done in by change of pace.
After that Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Dhruv Jurel and Hardik Pandya all perished due to poor shot selection. India were in a spot of bother at 78 for 5 in 9.1 overs.
Now, a lot depended on Varma and local boy Sundar to steer the hosts to safety and put the team back on track. Varma was judicious in his short selection and held fort at one end. Sundar, who enjoyed a slice of luck while on 10, made the best use of the opportunity to have a go at Wood and extracted 15 runs with a brace of fours and a six.
The duo added 38 runs for the sixth wicket when the hosts were under the pump. Sundar and Axar Patel left soon after but Varma, in the company of Ravi Bishnoi, took India home with four balls to spare.
Brief Scores: England 165/9 in 20 ovs (Jos Buttler 45, Brydon Carse 31; Axar Patel 2/32, Varun Chakravarthy 2/38) lost to India 166/8 in 19.2 ovs (Tilak Varma 72 n.o.; Brydon Carse 3/29)