Jasprit Bumrah bowled a miraculous final over to clinch an improbable win for India in a nail biter of a match to keep the series alive. Defending just 8 runs in the final over with the well set Joe Root and Jos Buttler at the crease, Bumrah gave away just 2 runs and also picked up both the batsmen to tilt the match on its head. England needed 24 off the last 2 overs when Buttler and Root smashed 16 runs of Ashish Nehra’s over to all but seal the match and the series for England but Bumrah’s magic not just ensured an Indian win but also washed away the talks of his own poor form.
Nagpur had last hosted India in an international T20 match a year ago in the T20 world cup against the New Zealand side which the home side had lost badly on a square turning surface. The surface today was not much different and was certain of making the ball stop, grip and turn to make scoring a difficult ask. England won the toss and decided they would like to chase, keeping the dew factor in mind. England again bowled well consecutively for the second time this series to keep the Indian batting lineup in check with a tight line and length and constant change of pace.
Virat and KL Rahul opened the batting but could not really tee-off as English bowlers did not offer them any room to free their arms. Virat tried to force himself on the opponents with some crafty shots but fell soon in the process as he mistimed a heave off Jordan staright into the hands of the long on fielder. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj could not do much either as they departed soon as well to leave India in a precarious situation at 69 for 3 in the 11th over. It was KL Rahul’s timely hits that kept India going in the middle overs as he scored a fighting 71 runs from 47 balls. Manish Pandey found it extremely tough to time the ball despite being in the middle for a long time as he crawled to 30 runs off 26 balls of which 8 runs came off the last 2 balls he faced before getting out. Even Dhoni could not get anything onto his bat in the final overs as India finished at 144 for 8 in their 20 overs.
England did chase a similar score with ease in the previous match but this surface was different and they knew that the chase had to be built on a strong performance in the initial overs when the ball would not grip much. India on the other hand was prepared and surprised England with giving the new ball straight to the leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
Chahal started well in the first over but was smashed away for 15 runs in his second over as England looked to get away early. Senior Statesman Ashish Nehra though spoiled their party by sending both the openers back in consecutive deliveries in his second and overall the fourth over of the England innings. Root and Morgan did not score freely but stemmed the fall of wickets for a while as they stayed together for 43 runs in 7 overs before Morgan miscued one off Amit Mishra straight down the throat of mid wicket fielder.
New man Ben Stokes was castled by jubilant Mishra a ball later to find out that he had overstepped. Stokes made full use of this stroke of luck to score 38 runs off 27 balls to pull England back into the match. Stokes was dismissed finally by Ashish Nehra when the equation for England read 28 more to get off 19 balls which was quite a manageable task given that Joe Root was still there with Buttler coming in as the new man and the fact that England still had 6 wickets left. Bumrah came back to bowl a magical spell at the death as he gave away just 5 runs out of which 4 came off the bat in his final two overs (18th and 20th) and also got the crucial wickets of Root and Buttler to seal the match for India which looked lost when Nehra gave away 16 runs in the 19th over. At the end though, Nehra had brilliant figures for the match as he gave away just 28 runs in his 4 overs and took 3 wickets. Bumrah gave away 20 in his 4 to pick 2 wickets to become the man of the match.
India keeps the series alive now making the third match as a decider but they should be concerned about their batting. For the second time in two matches, the batsmen have not performed. Bowlers brought them back today but their batsmen need to put up good scores to give their bowlers a decent chance to defend. England played to a plan when they bowled but fell short while batting more because of the pitch. They would still turn out positive for the final match and India needs to take some initiative now.
Ind vs Eng, 2nd T20, Nagpur
India 144/8 (20/20 ov)
England 139/6 (20.0/20 ov)
India won by 5 runs