Not afraid of being hit for 6s: Kuldeep

match I don’t feel the pressure.”

Kuldeep finished with a fivewicket haul, picking up all the big names. Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Alex Hales all failed to read the Chinaman bowler’s variations.

In the 14th over of the innings, Kuldeep claimed three wickets in four balls to put India in control.

Sharing his thought process Kuldeep said, “England’s start with the bat was good. The wicket was a bit dry. It felt like there was a chance it’d turn a bit at the start, but it didn’t. (So) I varied my pace. I thought if I bowl a bit slower, maybe there’d be chances... Then when I came to bowl the second over, I kept the pace down, and increased the flight and maintained it. I maintained my length. After the wicket of Morgan, I kept going ball by ball. The plan was to stretch the batsmen... I didn’t want to give them any pace.”

Buttler was the only batsmen who stood the spin test with a half-century. Having matched wits many times during the IPL, Kuldeep knew the England ’keeper-batsman would be tough to crack, hence his gameplan was to contain the Rajasthan Royals star while targeting his teammates.

“I’ve bowled a lot to Buttler, even in IPL. So, I knew his plans. I knew he won’t take the chance against me. He’d go for singles and doubles, and won’t hit me. So I was happy to give him that single, because the others have never faced me, so I thought I had (better) chances of getting them.”

VIRAT FASTEST TO 2000

Virat Kohli became the first Indian and fourth batsman overall to complete 2000 runs in T20 Internationals. By taking just 56 innings, he became the fastest to get to the mark.