India defeated England by two wickets in the second T20 match to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Team India, which was once in trouble, was pulled out of trouble by Tilak Verma and crowned with victory. Tilak played an unbeaten innings of 72 runs in 55 balls.
22-year-old Tilak Verma was also given the title of Player of the Match for his brilliant innings.
New story in a new era
It seems that in the shortest format of cricket, Team India has left behind the era of change and moved ahead.
Under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, the young Indian team has not let the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli be felt.
While Abhishek Sharma won the first match, Tilak Verma was the hero of the second match played in Chennai last night. There is no match-winner in this new Team India.
It was a close contest
A close contest was played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. England had set a target of 166 runs for India to win.
Three batsmen including captain Suryakumar Yadav were out within the powerplay and returned to the pavilion. During this, Abhishek Sharma, who played a fiery innings of 79 runs in 34 balls in the first match, was also out.
So far, England bowlers Mark Wood and Jofra Archer have added excitement to the match.
Suryakumar and Hardik got out cheaply
Captain Suryakumar Yadav could not even open his account at Eden Gardens and here in Chennai, Brydon Cars clean bowled him for 12 runs.
Cars then made Dhruv Jurel, who was playing in place of Rinku Singh, his victim.
Jamie Overton pushed India on the back foot by taking the wicket of Hardik Pandya. By the tenth over, the score was 78 runs for five wickets.
Hardik Pandya has not been able to score a half-century in the last 14 innings. In June last year, he scored an unbeaten 50 against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup, but after that, he has not scored a half-century.
A match full of ups and downs
But Tilak Verma stood firm at one end and batted brilliantly. Washington Sundar supported him and shared a 38-run partnership.
Sundar scored 26 runs off 19 balls. Kars clean-bowled him to become his third victim.
After Axar Patel was out on two runs, the match once again seemed to be going in England’s favor. Axar got out by playing an irresponsible shot even though he had been made the vice-captain of the team.
Tilak of victory
Tilak Verma hit 19 runs in Jofra Archer’s last and the sixteenth over of England’s innings and changed the course of the match. Archer conceded 60 runs in four overs.
Arshdeep Singh supported Tilak and in the end, Ravi Bishnoi also defeated England by hitting two fours.
Tilak Verma gave India the win by hitting a four on a cover drive with four balls to spare. Tilak’s confidence can be seen in his four fours and five sixes.
Unique record in Tilak’s name
On Saturday night, Tilak also made a unique record in T20 International. Tilak became the player to score the most runs continuously without getting out.
Tilak has not been out even once in his last four innings in T20 International. Look at the score of his last four innings – 107, 120, 19, and 72 runs. In this way, he has scored 318 runs without getting out so far.
He has broken the record of New Zealand’s Mark Chapman in this matter. Chapman had scored 271 runs in four innings while remaining not out.
This list also includes the name of Aaron Finch, who scored 240 runs in two innings and remained unbeaten.
Winning the toss and bowling first
Both captains Suryakumar Yadav and Jos Buttler had hoped before the match that the Chennai pitch would be better than Kolkata.
Like the first match, in this match too, captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided to bowl first.
The thinking behind this decision is that it is usually easier to bat at night while bowling is difficult due to dew.
Mohammed Shami in the waiting list!
Mohammed Shami did not get a place in the playing XI. He will have to wait more to return to international cricket. He has not played an international T20 match for almost two years.
Shami last played an ODI for India in November 2023. Looking at the way England batsmen are looking uncomfortable against spin bowling in the current series, it is not easy for Shami to make a place.
Like the first match, England did not have a good start in Chennai either. Both the openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett were in the pavilion within the powerplay. Arshdeep Singh had dismissed Phil in the very first over.
Butler, the partner in the crisis
Captain Jos Butler once again pulled the team out of trouble. He scored 45 runs in 30 balls with the help of two fours and three sixes. Axar Patel stopped him from scoring his second consecutive half-century.
Apart from Butler, Brydon Carse played a brilliant innings of 31 runs in 17 balls with the help of one four and three sixes. England managed to score 165 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs.
Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone scored 13-13 while Jamie Smith scored 22 runs which included two sixes. Jofra Archer remained not out after scoring 12 runs in nine balls and Mark Wood remained not out after scoring five runs in three balls. England’s batsmen were able to add 29 runs in the last four overs.
Varun Chakraborty and Axar Patel took two wickets each, while Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, and Abhishek Sharma got one wicket each. Ravi Bishnoi did not get any wickets.
The strategies of both teams are different
The Indian cricket team is relying more on spinners. In this match, Indian spinners bowled 14 overs and took 6 wickets for 118 runs.
If we talk about the series, Varun Chakraborty has taken five wickets and Axar Patel has taken four wickets in two matches so far. While Ravi Bishnoi has been the most economical bowler.
On the other hand, the England team has been dependent on fast bowlers. Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer have taken three wickets each.
Shock to the Indian team
Before the Chennai T20 match, there was not one but two bad news for the Indian camp. All-rounder Nitish Reddy and Rinku Singh became unfit.
Nitish Reddy suffered a side strain injury during the practice session in Chennai on January 24. Reddy is out of the entire series. Reddy, who made headlines by performing brilliantly in Australia, is going to the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bangalore for treatment and fitness.
Rinku Singh suffered back spasms while fielding in the first T20 match. However, his fitness is improving. The BCCI medical team is monitoring him closely. But he is out of at least the second and third matches of the series.
In place of these two players, the senior selection committee has included Shivam Dubey and Ramandeep Singh in the team.
