Wood, Buttler seal England win
England pacer bags three wickets before keeper’s unbeaten 83 puts visitors 2-1 ahead with two games left
AHMEDABAD: Just a day more than a year since Covid-19 brought cricket to a standstill in India with a cancelled ODI against South Africa, the spectre of the pandemic causing fresh disruption was back on Tuesday.
The stands at the Narendra Modi Stadium here, which a couple of days ago was abuzz with 65,000-plus spectators, echoed with canned cheer from the booming boxes. Rising Covid-19 cases in the city meant fans were barred for the third T20 tie between India and England on. In place of vociferous fans producing the Mexican Wave, one only had empty chairs to look at.
England’s pace wave was unrelenting though, battering the Indian batsmen with bounce as well to choke them. With their fast, short, balls, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan kept asking questions of the home batsmen. They caved in, suffering an eight-wicket defeat. India now find themselves having to play catch-up with two matches to go as the visitors led 2-1 in the series.
Opener Ishan Kishan’s attacking half-century in the second game win had showed signs of heralding a new approach in the Indian top order.
The 22-year-old Kishan played the third T20I, but at No. 3 to make way for Rohit Sharma. Opener KL Rahul retained his place at the expense of Suryakumar Yadav, who was dropped without even getting the chance to bat on debut.
All three were back in the dugout with four balls left in the Powerplay phase. Each one fell to pace and bounce as the hosts limped to 24/3 in the first six overs. Skipper Virat Kohli 77 (46b) played with gumption to script a recovery that saw India reach 156/6. It was not enough as England chased down the total in 18.2 overs, with Jos Buttler raising the heat with a 52-ball 83* (his highest T20I score).
Top order collapse
Asked to bat first, India fielded their third opening combination in three matches as Sharma and Rahul (designated by Kohli as the No. 1 choice openers) took guard. Sharma had been rested for the first two games, and Rahul had scores of 0, 1 and 0 in his last three T20I innings. Both looked rusty.
Rahul, who warmed the bench throughout the Test series against England, was out for a duck for the second successive game as a fuller delivery from Wood seared through the batpad gap and rattled the stumps in the third over.
Wood, replacing Tom Curran, extracted bounce at fiery pace. It can be tough for anyone to negotiate such heavy artillery, tougher still for someone who is coming from a break. That’s what happened to Sharma in the fifth over. A 146 kph-plus delivery cramped Sharma for space but he tried to pull and was caught at short fine leg by Archer.
Seeing the Indian batsmen’s vulnerability against rising deliveries, England kept digging it short and fast. They got another wicket with the ploy as Kishan looked to go all out against an Archer bouncer, but edged it to wicketkeeper Buttler.
Captain’s knock
Kohli began with a four, off the second delivery he faced, as Wood erred in line and gave him some width. Seeing India lose three wickets, the grit of the India captain came to the fore. He and Pant took their chances against leg-spinner Adil Rashid while being cautious against the pacers. But a wrong call by Kohli for a third run in the 12th over led to Pant’s run out.
By the 15th over, Kohli had reached only 28 off 29 balls with India 87/5. The mayhem started after that as the hosts notched 69 runs in the last 30 balls with Kohli the architect. He shared in a 70-run stand off just 35 balls with Hardik Pandya for the sixth wicket, Kohli scoring 50 of the runs on way to his second successive half-century.
Kohli took his chances as he made room play the big shots. He used his wrist too to good effect. Despite going all out, he looked assured. He hit four sixes, all in the last five overs. He was the most brutal against Wood in the 18th over as he pulled him for six, then lofted him over midoff and finally pushed one towards third man. Kohli’s master class ensured India crossed 155.
Easy for England
But this England batting has intimidating depth, starting with Buttler at the top. Despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur keeping it tight in the first two overs, conceding just seven runs, England notched 50 runs in the next four powerplay overs.
Buttler hammered Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal. He never missed a chance to perfectly time his shots, to launch the ball over long-on or squarer on the leg side. That start meant England were always cruising despite a few quiet overs in the middle.