Sharma cuts loose with century to sink England
Clinical India seal series after seven-wicket win Hosts’ 198 not enough in T20 clash of 23 sixes
At times this felt less like a conventional Twenty20 cricket match than a simple six-hitting contest. So it felt entirely appropriate that India sealed this gentle cruise, and the T20 series, with a thumping six slugged over long on. It was the last of a day of 23 sixes; England actually managed 12 to India’s 11.
But more telling was that they managed only 30 dot balls, while India produced 48. So imperious was their chase of 199 that India hauled their target down with eight balls remaining – and there was not even any need for Suresh Raina or MS Dhoni to bat.
This was a run chase that married overwhelming power with the coldly clinical. India had no need to recourse to pyrotechnics; trusting in the purity of their timing and swings, just as Hardik Pandya did in the moment of victory, was enough. There have been higher chases in T20 international history, of course, including two by India, but seldom can a team have chased down so many while retaining quite such an air of serenity throughout.
Just as in their win in the first match of the series, a top-order centurion underpinned India’s victory. Where KL Rahul had done so at Old Trafford, here Rohit Sharma played a very modern T20 innings: an anchor scoring at barely shy of two runs a ball, as he scored his third T20I hundred.
Bowling to Sharma, like all the Indian top order, is a game of infinitesimal margins, in which minute failings have an outsized impact.
That was exemplified when, in the 14th over of India’s chase, after a fine over, Chris Jordan attempted a leg-stump yorker and bowled it a little too full. Sharma clipped it away, as nonchalantly as a gardener dispensing with some unwanted weeds.
At times it felt as if England’s only riposte was in the field – or, more specifically one fielder: Jordan. First he ran back from mid-on at full belt, and then dived at full length to snaffle Rahul: a moment of supreme athleticism and extraordinary judgment, for his leap was perfectly timed. Then there was a terrific return grab off Virat Kohli too.
Ordinarily such brilliance would feel potentially match-turning, yet it just had the air of a mild inconvenience for India.
With Ben Stokes returning, England had six bowlers – and India six different bowlers they could hit for six. They managed to do so against all bar Stokes himself, who used classic death bowling tactics – wide yorkers and regular changes of pace – in two bedlam-free overs in the middle of the innings.
“We couldn’t get wickets,” said Eoin Morgan. “I was just chopping and changing trying to find a wicket, trying to be as unpredictable as we could – and it didn’t work.”
The brazen way that India approached their chase reflected the enormity of the task: they had only twice scored more than the 199 they were required to win. But it also reflected that, as onerous as a rate of 10 per over appeared, it was rather less so when taking into account the sumptuous batting conditions and the ground’s minute straight boundaries.
Even at the time, England’s final score of 198 for nine felt a touch under par, much as the same score would have done in 50-over cricket 25 years ago.
Certainly it amounted to a poor return on a stupendous start. A week after adding 70 in the six-over Powerplay against Australia at Edgbaston, here Jos Buttler and Jason Roy added 73 in that time, setting up an opening stand of 94 in 7.5 overs.
While the sheer impudence of Buttler has felt like the defining feature of England’s summer so far, Roy continued his own astounding limited-overs run by plundering seven sixes. And yet England’s in-
nings ended in a rather dizzying state.
From 111 for two after 10 overs they mustered only 87 for seven in the second half. India’s bowlers recovered from the earlier assault – Pandya was plundered for 22 in his first over but snared four for 16 in his following three, shrewdly bowling back of a length, while Yuzvendra Chahal’s leg spin was wily again.
“That 20 or 30 runs we missed out on at the end of our innings probably cost us,” Morgan said. “The execution of our shots didn’t really match up with getting to that total.” England still had plenty of runs, of course – just not nearly enough. And soon India had their first series victory of the summer, sealed with a power and panache that hinted there could be two more to come.