England clinch last over thriller to level series 1-1

India beat England by five wickets in the second T20 International at Cardiff on Friday to level series 1-1. It was a nerve wracking finish to the thrilling encounter. Virat Kohli’s 47 runs off 38 balls proved monumental as India reached a respectable total of 148 runs in 20 overs. In reply, England stumbled in the initial stages but a responsible innings by Alex Hales ensured it was England’s game. He played a match winning knock of 58* runs in just 41 balls.

Eoin Morgan was confident of chasing as England had the firepower and the pitch would not change much in the shortest format of the game. Thus, he won the toss and chose to field.

The decision seemed to payoff as Jake Ball picked Rohit Sharma in the second over itself. His opening partner Shikhar Dhawan looked solid from the word go but a blow to his elbow on the bowling of Liam Plunkett resulted in his downfall. He fell agonisingly short of the crease trying to sneak a single on the same ball. Following footsteps of the openers, KL Rahul walked back to the pavilion after playing a disastrous shot on the bowling of Plunkett.

India were in a spot of bother and the rebuilding process was underway. Suresh Raina and skipper Virat Kohli steadied the ship and played as the situation demanded. They opened their hands at the halfway stage when the run machine took Adil Rashid to the cleaners, hitting him a four and a six on consecutive deliveries. Suresh Raina joined in the party and played some sumptuous cricketing shots.

Suresh Raina perished to Adil Rashid looking to heave him over the mid wicket boundary. He was stumped and this was the only instance when the 31 year old was dismissed in this fashion in his entire T20 International career.

MS Dhoni played a decent cameo towards the end getting India to a respectable total of 148 runs which seemed an easy task for the hosts. But keeping the blunder that happened against spinners in the first game in mind, it was anyone’s game from there on.

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In reply, England lost Jason Roy early at the score of 16. He was cleaned up by Indian speedster Umesh Yadav. He almost got the same result against Jos Buttler but a dropped catch by Virat Kohli highlighted the fact that it was England’s day and we were entitled to witness yet another Jos Buttler show. But, tables turned just two balls after the blunder as Virat Kohli got the opportunity of redeeming the lost chance and he did it in style. After his departure, England lost wickets at regular intervals.

Small cameos from Eoin Morgan and Jonny Bairstow helped England gain momentum towards the climax. Bairstow and Hales hit 16 off Kuldeep Yadav’s last over which proved to be the turning point. After an amazing penultimate over by Umesh Yadav, it was time for Bhuvneshwar Kumar to defend 12 runs of the final over. He failed miserably and England triumphed by five wickets to level series 1-1.

Brief scores: India 148/5 (Virat Kohli 47 off 38 balls, Liam Plunkett 4-0-17-1) lost to England 149/5 (Alex Hales 58* off 41 balls, Umesh Yadav 4-0-36-2) by 5 wickets.