Tilak Varma smashed a 55-ball 72* © BCCI Tilak Varma guided India home with a masterful fifty under thrilling circumstances in the second T20I against England in Chennai. In a game that appeared straightforward at the halfway mark following another ordinary batting display from England, India struggled against the visitors’ pace attack and were reduced to 104/6 at one stage in pursuit of 166. However, Tilak showcased his ability to adapt to the situation and kept the hosts alive right until the end before getting the job done with four balls to spare. England made a similar start to the one they made in Kolkata three days ago as Phil Salt was once again dismissed in the opening over by Arshdeep Singh after India opted to bowl first. And yet again, it was Jos Buttler who was leading England’s charge as he took on Arshdeep for a couple of fours and a six to finally get his side going. Even though Washington Sundar, coming in place of the injured Nitish Reddy, managed to get rid of Ben Duckett soon after, Buttler didn’t stop. Harry Brook made a fine start as well, racing to 12 off just 4 but like in Kolkata, he failed to read Varun Chakravarthy’s googly and got castled. The telling blow came at the halfway mark though when Buttler mistimed a pull against Axar Patel to get caught near the deep. While Liam Livingstone once again didn’t make an impact, England were uplifted by the two new faces who had come in for the game. Jamie Smith, making his T20I debut, looked very comfortable against the spinners unlike most of his mates and took on even Chakravarthy. Racing to 22 off just 11, he played one shot too many though as he mistimed one to get caught near long off. Similarly, Brydon Carse made a great impression as he played some lovely strokes to ensure the scoring rate didn’t dip despite the fall of wickets. Carse even slammed Chakravarthy for back-to-back sixes and was the key for England while entering the death overs. However, a lack of communication between him and Jofra Archer led to an unnecessary run out that dented England big time. From thereon, Adil Rashid and Archer did their bit to drag England to 165, a total that once again didn’t look threatening against a menacing Indian lineup. The signs were visible when Abhishek Sharma kickstarted the chase with three boundaries off Archer but Mark Wood ensured he didn’t last long by trapping the youngster lbw. If England struggled against spin, pace proved to be India’s undoing, especially the short ball. Sanju Samson fell to a short-pitched delivery from Archer but Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak came up with a counterattack to push England behind again with a flurry of boundaries. India were cruising in the powerplay despite losing two wickets but against the run of play, the skipper departed after inside-edging one onto his stumps. This is where England came back into the contest as Dhruv Jurel was the next to depart to another short delivery. Hardik Pandya started off with a four but it was now Jamie Overton’s turn to use the short ball to good effect as India lost half their side with just 78 on the board. Local boy Washington then steadied the ship alongside Tilak and after a watchful period, he even went on to pick up some useful boundaries to eat into the target. He stamped his authority with a six and two fours in a Mark Wood over that saw the pacer concede 18 runs. Once again, against the run of play though, India lost a wicket when Carse came back to castle Washington which was immediately followed by Axar mistiming a slogsweep. Those two wickets meant Tilak had to shoulder the responsibility to guide India home. Despite making a swashbuckling start to his innings, Tilak showed great composure and adapted to take the game deep. He hammered Archer for back-to-back sixes to thrill the crowd and bring up his fifty but the game was still on when Arshdeep got caught in the deep with India still needing 20 off 18 with only two wickets in hand. Ravi Bishnoi then came to the home side’s rescue as he eased the pressure on Tilak with a timely boundary before India’s No.3 finished England’s hopes in the final over. Brief scores: England 165/9 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 45; Axar Patel 2/32) lost to India 166/8 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 72*; Brydon Carse 3/29) by 2 wickets
