- विज्ञापन -
Chennai: Tilak Varma sealed the deal for India by hitting a brilliant 72 not out, taking the hosts to a thrilling two-wicket win over England in the second T20I at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
The nail-biting win also gives India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
After restricting England to 165/5 in an innings where 14 overs were bowled by spinners, the joint second-most their slower bowlers have bowled in a men’s T20I game. India were quick off the blocks but were soon reduced to 78/5, but managed to win the second T20I in 19.2 overs.
Tilak, who had a blazing start to his knock by then, switched his batting gear and handled the pressure well to get his first T20I fifty in India, which he didn’t celebrate.
After taking the 16th over off Jofra Archer for 19 runs, Tilak kept a steady head with ice in his veins and hammered Jamie Overton through extra cover to complete the chase with four balls to spare, with Tilak ending the game unbeaten on 72 off 55 balls, laced with four boundaries and five sixes.
India’s chase began with Abhishek Sharma hammering Jofra Archer for three boundaries in the opening over, before trying to play across the line resulting in him being trapped lbw off Mark Wood. Archer struck when he hurried Sanju Samson into the pull and was caught in the deep. Suryakumar Yadav began well against England’s extreme pace ploy by hitting three quick boundaries, while Tilak took a liking to Archer’s speeds by slashing him for four, before flicking and pulling him for two sixes.
He welcomed Brydon Carse with a pull over fine leg for six before the pacer came back to castle Suryakumar with pace and had Dhruv Jurel pulling to mid-wicket. India got another big blow when Hardik Pandya tried to cut off Carse, but gave a bottom edge behind to keeper Phil Salt. With Buttler rotating his bowlers well and pacers bouncing batters out, India were in a dire situation. As Tilak took up the holding role, Washington Sundar scooped Overton for four and was dropped by Adil Rashid for ten. He then took a liking to Wood’s pacy deliveries by pulling him for six, before hitting him over mid-off for two fours to bring India back in the game.
India achieved the target of 162 in 19.2 overs by loosing eight wickets.
