Ahmedabad: After being wobbled in the first game, India came back to their groove sealing a 7 wicket win over England in the second of the T20 series on Sunday. Ishan Kishan sparkled on his debut at the Narendra Modi Stadium scoring a blistering 32 ball 56 while the mercurial Virat Kohli(73) shut his critics help the hosts chased down a target of 165 in the 18th over.
For his outstanding half-century on T20I debut 💥💥 & a match-winning one at that, @ishankishan51 is our Man of the Match tonight 🤙🏻🤙🏻#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 #INDvENG @Paytm
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/gU4AGqh8Um pic.twitter.com/Pn2VZw3vOr
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 14, 2021
Winning the toss, Kohli put England to bat. After losing Jos Buttler in the first over, the visitors kept their free-flowing style of play with Jason Roy again making the things happen. They were going pretty well until Roy got dismissed for 46 going for a big hit off Washington Sundar. Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan looked quite good at the middle in the initial parts of their innings. At one point the Englishmen were cruising on 111/3 in 13 overs.
But the Indian bowlers clawed their way back playing their heart out. Sundar sent the burly Bairstow home for 20. Bhuvasneshwar Kumar bowled a superb 16th over giving India momentum before the rest of the bowlers kept their shape in the death overs as England struggled up the tempo posting a total of 164/6 in 20 overs. Sundar with his 2/29 was the pick of the bowler with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/28) too giving him good support.
In reply, India stumbled early as KL Rahul fall into the trap of Sam Curran in the first over. But the duo of debutant Kishan and skipper Kohli took the game away from the visitors. Kishan never really looked like a rookie as he smashed the England bowlers all around the park before bringing up his fifty hitting Adil Rashid over long-on for a maximum.
The smiles of the south-paw would not have been there had Ben Stokes taken his catch in Rashid’s earlier over. However, it was Rashid who trapped Kishan in front but the youngster did his job already set up the base. Rishav Pant’s 13-ball 26 fueled India’s chances. It was left to Virat to do his magic and the skipper did it In his style bringing up his fifty.
He hit Jofra Archer for the winning six to seal the deal while also completing 3000runs in T20I’s in the process as India scored 166/3 in 17.5 overs. Kishan was adjudged the Man of the Match as both the side will now turn their attention on the third game of the series at the same venue on Thursday.
