A rampant Indian team displayed yet another clinical performance to win the second T20I against England on Saturday (July 9) at Edgbaston. With this victory, they took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match T20I series.
Ahead of the start of the game, the 'Men in Blue' included Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah in their line-up. On the other hand, England handed debut cap to Richard Gleeson and recalled David Willey.
The Jos Buttler-led side won the toss and opted to chase down the score. Surprisingly, Pant came out to partner with Rohit Sharma in the opening slot for India.
Despite receiving a reprieve in the first over by Jason Roy, Sharma hit a six in the last ball off David Willey and made his intentions clear.
Pant followed the skipper's suit to opt for an aggressive approach and hit a couple of boundaries off Willey's second over.
Then Moeen Ali, who dismissed the Indian skipper in the first fixture, was introduced in the fourth over. However, the 35-year-old was terrific with his bat flow and created room to hit four off the covers and then followed it up with a boundary towards the deep mid-wicket.
Debutant Richard Gleeson faced the wrath of the Indian skipper with a confident boundary in the second ball of his first over. In the penultimate delivery of the over, the 34-year-old debutant fired a quick bouncer, which got big on Sharma (31), and Buttler caught the top edge.
Gleeson got the better of Kohli (1) and Pant (26) in the first two deliveries of his second over and left India stunned at 61/3.
Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav tried to resurrect the innings, but both were dismissed by Chris Jordan in the 11th over.
Soon, Dinesh Karthik (12) succumbed to a run-out dismissal while trying to take a risky signal.
Afterwards, it was Jadeja's quickfire contribution of 46* off 29, which helped India to post a competitive total of 170 runs. However, the highlight of the all-rounder's innings was his flick for a six towards the backward square leg area.
For 'The Three Lions', Jordan was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets to his name.
England had a dismal start with Jason Roy getting caught at the slip by Sharma off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The ball had a late out-swing movement, to which the 31-year-old tried to guide towards the third-man area but failed to get it past the fielder.
In the third over, Pant completed a terrific catch to send Buttler (4) back to the pavilion, by standing up to the stumps to Bhuvi.
Liam Livingstone (15) looked confident during his short stay before getting foxed by a brilliantly executed slower ball of Bumrah, which tailed back in and kissed the stumps.
Soon, Harry Brook (8) was caught at Long-on off Yuzvendra Chahal in the seventh over. Then, the subsequent over of the leg-spinner witnessed Dawid Malan playing a reverse sweep, which only managed to get holed out to Harshal Patel at Point.
In the 15th over, Pandya went for 18 runs but took crucial wickets of Ali and Jordan. However, the rest of the batters could not hold their fort well, and England were dismissed for a score of 121, and lost by 49 runs. Willey remained unbeaten on 33 off 22.
Bhuvi was adjudged as Player of the Match for his figures of 3/15 in three overs.
After the culmination of this fixture, India leads the 3-match series by 2-nil and has secured a series victory.
In the 2018 tour of England, India had emerged victorious with a 2-1 series victory in the shortest format.
Interestingly, as a captain, Sharma now has the highest winning percentage (86.7) in T20I history. He is now just one short of equalling Ricky Ponting's record of most consecutive wins in Men's international matches.
Both teams will meet at Trent Bridge on July 10 for the third and final fixture of the series.
Brief Scores:
India- 170/8 (20)
Ravindra Jadeja 46* (29), Rohit Sharma 31 (20);
Chris Jordan 4/27, Richard Gleeson 3/15,
England- 121/10 (17)
Moeen Ali 35 (21), David Willey 33 (22);
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/15, Jasprit Bumrah 2/10
Result: India won by 49 runs