Archer is gold dust – he may just be nation’s best T20 paceman ever

Jofra Archer has played only eight Twenty20 internationals yet it could be argued that he is already the best pace bowler England have had in that format, owing to all the experience he has gained in T20 franchises around the world. Of those eight games, England have won seven.

Anybody who can bowl a wicket maiden in the powerplay and come back to take two wickets in an over at the death is gold dust. Archer finished with his best T20 figures for England, three for 23, but the most remarkable statistic was that he bowled 16 dot balls. India’s bowlers managed 35 dot balls between them.

So comprehensive was England’s performance, from Archer’s start to the eight-wicket finish, they might well go to the World T20 finals in India in October and November as favourites, ahead of the hosts.

Eoin Morgan had been concerned about England’s lack of penetration in the powerplay, but he resorted to one of the oldest tricks rather than any novel data. On a pitch that began with some decent carry, Morgan combined express pace and wristspin – Archer and Mark Wood with Adil Rashid. After they had bowled the first five overs, India were 20 for three and wrecked.

The ball was a different colour from the Test series and the format different, but so was Archer’s confidence. In T20 he appears to have the same certainty about what type of delivery he wants to bowl as James Anderson in Tests. The one occasion when both of them were nonplussed was when Rishabh Pant reverseswept them.

It was, thus, a complete reversal of roles. Ravichandran Ashwin was player of the Test series (32 wickets at 14), but is no longer selected for T20 internationals. Axar Patel was his Test No2 (with 27 wickets at 10 each), but was popped back over his head by England batsmen who had no fear or scoreboard pressure.

Archer took four Test wickets at 30 before being the player of this T20 game for his pace, length, line and steep trajectory.

Everyone in England’s T20 team knows his role and has Morgan’s confidence – and therefore his own as well. Archer seemed not disconcerted at all when Rashid was given the task of bowling the first over. Nor was Rashid, as he would have been in times past.

Archer missed the fourth Test with a right elbow injury: how England could have used him to back up Anderson and his unusual new-ball partner, Ben Stokes, especially when India were on the verge of falling behind on first innings. An Archer burst, had he been fit and chosen in place of Dom Bess, could yet have levelled that Test series.