Taha Hashim's report
SKY feels 'relief'
Brydon Carse picks up several awards, even if he’s not going to get the big one. And then the Indian captain comes up. “A little bit of relief,” says Suryakumar Yadav, engagingly. He had been happy to keep England down to 160, but then “the way they bowled, it went to the wire”. The plan was to play the same way as in the last game. He liked the way his team “stitched the small partnerships”. That’s a great take. He looks as if he’d be fun to play for. As does Buttler, now he’s relinquished the gloves and is free to come up with funky fields and bowling changes.
The Player of the Match is, of course, Tilak Varma. Kate Mason, TNT’s switched-on anchor, reveals that he hasn’t been out in his last four T20 internationals. His scores have been 107 not out, 120 not out, 19 not out and now 72 not out. His career average in T20Is is 58,91! That’s the modern equivalent of 99.94.
Time for me to go and find a banana. Thanks for your company and correspondence, and long live Rutland.
"Great game," says Buttler
“Great game,” reckons Jos Buttler. “Really exciting there at the end, all credit to Tilak for getting them over the line.”
Happy with the bowling performance? “Yeah, I thought we created lots of chances,” he says, suddenly turning into a struggling Premier League manager.
“Lots of positives. Jamie Smith playing on debut in the style he did was fantastic, Brydon Carse and the guys creating chances with the ball.”
Bothered by losing so many wickets to spin? “If they play three spinners, they’ll take wickets. We were more aggressive today and I was happy with that.”
England better, but not quite good enough
After the mismatch on Wednesday, this was a proper contest that made for hours of pulsating entertainment. England faltered against the spinners, as usual, but they kept going hard and bouncing back. It was two of their Test-match finds of 2024, Jamie Smith (on debut) and Brydon Carse, who led the way. But Carse got run out by Jofra Archer, who then went for more runs behind square than any bowler on record in this format. That’s the trouble with pace: it flies off the bat, too.
So England are 2-0 down with three to play, but their new white-ball boss, Brendon McCullum, can be more satisfied than disappointed. Jos Buttler was enterprising, Carse grabbed three wickets with his golden arm and Adil Rashid was masterly without getting much reward for it. England coped with all the Indian batters bar one, Tilak Varma, who won the match with an unbeaten 72 off 55 balls on a night when nobody else made 50.
It was going to take something special to deny Carse the Player of the Match award, and Tilak supplied it. He was watchful against the two spinners, wrathful against the four pacemen. And he’s only 22. India have bexcome alarmingly good at developing young talent.
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Tilak wins the match for India!
19.2 overs: India 166-8 (Tilak 72, Bishnoi 9) Tilak swipes to leg and runs two (good save by Livingstone)… and then he cover-drives for four! And rounds off a fine victory. He looks like a rock star and he performed like one too, at both ends of the innings, despite falling mysteriously silent in the middle.
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It’s going to be Overton, not Wood. And England, who flirted with a penalty for a slow over-rate, have been cleared by the third umpire.
Bishnoi not out!
19th over: India 160-8 (Tilak 66, Bishnoi 9) England review for LBW against Bishnoi. It takes an age, and it turns out to have pitched outside leg! What took them so long? India need six off the last over.
Bishnoi hits a four!
18.5 overs: India 160-8 (Tilak 66, Bishnoi 9) Bishnoi goes for the big hit, as Arshdeep did, and gets away with it – off the edge, all the way to the boundary. India need only six off seven balls: England are staring 0-2 in the face.
18.4 overs: India 156-8 (Tilak 66, Bishnoi 5) This time Tilak takes the single, after sweeping hard to deep square. India need 10 off eight balls.
18.3 overs: India 155-8 (Tilak 65, Bishnoi 5) Another dot, and then Tilak dabs to leg and steals two!
18.1 overs: India 153-8 (Tilak 63, Bishnoi 5) Buttler calls up Wood, no – Overton, no – Livingstone! You couldn’t make it up. From the first ball, Tilak turns down a single.
18th over: India 153-8 (Tilak 63, Bishnoi 5) I don’t believe it: Brydon Carse has bowled an over without taking a wicket. It goes for seven, which isn’t too bad, but four of them are a clip from Bishnoi, which wasn’t in the script. Advantage India: they need 13 from two overs. To win, England almost certainly have to take the last two wickets.
17.3 overs: India 146-8 (Tilak 62, Bishnoi 1) Two singles off the first three balls from Carse, and India have exacfty the same score as England at this stage. But they have a frontline batter still there.
17th over: India 146-8 (Tilak 62, Bishnoi 0) Rashid finishes with quietly fabulous figures, 4-0-14-1. But he did drop that vital catch. The game is like the Lord – it giveth and it taketh away.
WICKET!! Arshdeep c Archer b Rashid 6 (India 146-8)
Buttler gives Rashid a slip and a short leg, daring Arshdeep to go for the big hit. And he takes the bait! Slog-sweep, straight to Archer, who isn’t bothered by the battering he has just taken, or the run-out he was responsible for. Game back on?
16.5 overs: India 146-7 (Tilak 61, Arshdeep 6) Buttler, who is certainly being proactive, takes Livingstone off and brings Rashid back to finish his spell. Tilak just tries to see him off – dot, dot, dot, dot, single. That leaves Rashid with one ball, one chance to remove Arshdeep – and ….
Jofra Archer, who has bowled pretty well, finishes with 1-60 off his four overs. It could be worse: he could be Jimmy Anderson in Sydney in 2007.
Archer goes for 19 off an over!
16th over: India 145-7 (Tilak 60, Arshdeep 6) Tilak gets the message! And Buttler rues his decision to bring Archer back, as he goes for successive sixes. The first is a top edge over the keeper, but the second is a tennis shot over cover point. Arshdeep adds a four off the edge, and India are sudenly hot favourites again. They need 21 off 24 balls.
15th over: India 126-7 (Tilak 47, Arshdeep 0) Before that, Livingstone had been reverse-swept for four by Tilak – remember him? He has gone strangely quiet, though England have done well at denying him the strike. Now India need 40 off five overs and he will have to get most of them. He may be sparked up by the return of Jofra Archer, whose opening spell he tore to shreds.
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WICKET! Axar c Duckett b Livingstone 2 (India 126-7)
Buttler’s gamble pays off! Livingstone lures Axar into a slog-sweep that goes straight into the safe hands of Ben Duckett at deep square.
Wow!
Jos Buttler turns to Liam Livingstone. Both batters are left-handed, so presumably he’s going to bowl off-breaks. Even if he only bowls one of his varieties, it could go either way.
14th over: India 119-6 (Tilak 41, Axar 1) Carse is turning into Ian Botham before our eyes. Or maybe Andrew Flintoff. He bowls a heavy ball, and now he bowls a skiddy one to get past Washington’s attempted dab. Carse has 3-22 off three overs and India need 47 off the last six overs. Say what you like about T20, it has just as much ebb and flow, pro rata, as red-ball cricket.
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WICKET! Washington b Carse 26 (India 116-6)
Need a wicket? Send for Brydon.
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Washington takes 18 off an over from Wood!
13th over: India 113-5 (Tilak 38, Washington 25) Buttler brings Wood back and almost gets a wicket. Wood bowls into the pitch, as the quicks have tended to, and Washington mistimes a pull. The ball goes straight into the usually safe hands of Adil Rashid at mid-on – and plops out again. When Wood bowls a no-ball, Washington has the gumption to flick it for six over long leg. He adds a spank over mid-off for four, and then another!
Rashid’s drop looks awfully expensive already. These two batters have seized the moment, adding 35 off only 24 balls. India are up with the rate and heading for another win if England can’t separate them sharpish.
12th over: India 95-5 (Tilak 36, Washington 10) Overton continues and gets his figures rather ruined, like a new hairdo in the rain. Washington clips him for a four and a two, and in between there’s a bouncer that sails over Phil Salt for five wides. Overton now has 2-0-14-1.
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11th over: India 82-5 (Tilak 35, Washington 3) Rashid’s third over goes for only three singles as he goes deliciously slow. He hasn’t got a wicket, but he may have taken a couple at the other end.
“A very good afternoon to you Tim,” says Kim Thonger. “I have been protesting through (sorry) a rival broadsheet this week about government plans to absorb the very proud and efficiently run county of Rutland into the gargantuan monolith that is Leicestershire.” That’s a bit hard on Leics!
“If any OBOers have a hotline to Stuart Broad, who was schooled in Rutland by Frank Hayes, and I imagine would be supportive, might they give the good lad a nudge to put his headband on, spring into action and snarl at Angela Rayner who seems to be the ringleader of this brazen tomfoolery. Much obliged in advance.
“The county motto in Latin is Multum in Parvo. It translates to ‘much in little’ or ‘a great deal in a small space’. Much the same was said about Harry Pilling and Alvin Kallicharran, thought they’re not from Rutland of course.” Ha. I know Rutland well as my mum lives there. It’s a lovely place, and a very determined one. Ted Heath tried this ploy too: he won the battle, but Rutland won the war – every time the RUTLAND sign by the brook on the B664 was taken down, it seemed to reappear.
10th over: India 79-5 (Tilak 34, Washington 1) Jamie Overton didn’t get going at all in the first game, or the first innings of this one. But he grabbed a big wicket with his first ball and now he beats Tilak outside off. His figures are majestic: 1-0-1-1.
Drinks: England are the favourites!
We’re not quite at the halfway stage, and India need 88 off 65 balls. The run rate won’t bother them, but the wickets will. It’s all down to Tilak, who has followed a bad patch with a purple one … and then gone quiet again. The McCullum doctrine – attack, attack, attack – is working today.
WICKET! Hardik c Salt b Overton 7 (India 78-5)
Overton strikes with his first ball! It’s a bouncer, and Hardik can only waft at it. Salt takes the catch and England are on top.
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9th over: India 78-4 (Tilak 34, Hardik 7) Rashid continues, bowling well, testing both batters. Tilak manages to cut him for four, but there’s a whiff of an edge about it.
8th over: India 71-4 (Tilak 29, Hardik 5) Hardik Pandya comes in and smites his first ball for four. But Carse is on a roll here – 31 off 17 balls, one catch, and two wickets for 16, with two overs still to come. Nobody has more wickets today, and only Buttler has more runs. Man of the Match, anyone?
WICKET! Jurel c sub (Rehan) b Carse 4 (India 66-4)
Dhruv Jurel has gone before he got going, unable to cope with Carse’s golden arm. He pulls a short ball straight to midwicket, where Rehan Ahmed, on for Mark Wood, takes a tricky low catch with so little fuss that most of the crowd don’t even realise it’s a wicket.
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7th over: India 63-3 (Tilak 27, Jurel 3) Buttler turns to Adil Rashid, the only specialist spinner England have seen fit to pick. He starts beautifully, stopping the carnage, restricting Tilak to just one run off four balls.
6th over: India 59-3 (Tilak 26, Jurel 1) So the Powerplay ends, and – as in all the best cricket – it’s hard to say who’s winning. England will be delighted with the three wickets, but Tilak is now on fire, with 26 off 15 balls. For what it’s worth, England were 58-2 at this stage.
WICKET! Suryakumar b Carse 12 (India 58-3)
Brydon Carse sees his first ball hit for six. Does it bother him? It does not. He goes fast and straight and surgically removes SKY.
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5th over: India 51-2 (Tilak 19, Suryakumar 12) Tilak Varma: an apology. I may have suggested that he struggled against high pace. Not in this over. Facing Archer, he cuts for four, then glances for six! And top-edges over the keeper for six more. Archer, who has bowled with his usual pace and guile, has 1-41 off three overs.
Are you old enough to remember Ted Dexter saying “fight fire with fire”? Well, 35 years later, it’s finally happening. And both these teams are at it.
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4th over: India 34-2 (Tilak 2, Suryakumar 12) Wood is bowling rockets, 92-93 mph, and Tilak Varma can’t cope. But when he escapes with a squirt to third man, SKY simply uses Wood’s pace to flick over square leg for four more. And that ball was 95mph!
3rd over: India 28-2 (Tilak 1, Suryakumar 8) In comes India’s captain, with his team in a spot of trouble. He’ll take his time to get settled, surely … hang on, he’s played two delicious late cuts for four off his first three balls, from Archer. SKY has got his wits about him. And his wrists.
WICKET! Samson c Carse b Archer 5 (India 19-2)
One brings two! It’s rough justive for Archer, who twice came close to nabbing Abhishek in the first over. His bouncer tucks up Samson, who can only send a top edge sailing out to deep square. The catch is calmly held by Carse, showing there are no hard feelings for that run-out.
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2nd over: India 17-1 (Samson 3, Tilak 1) That ball from Wood wasn’t just fast and straight – it was swinging back into the left-handed Abhishek, whose airy flick stood no chance. The McCullum doctrine worked a treat. I can’t remember Wood being trusted with the new ball before in a white-ball international.
WICKET!! Abhishek LBW b Wood 12 (India 15-1)
Not too high! What a great ball from Wood – it would have thudded into middle stump, below the bail, and it has removed India’s most dangerous hitter.
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WICKET? Abhishek given LBW b Wood 12
Wood’s pace is too hot for Abhishek, but is this a bit high?
1st over: India 13-0 (Samson 1, Abhishek 12) Buttler hands the new ball to Jofra Archer, who owes England one after snuffing out Brydon Carse’s innings. This game may well hinge on Archer’s duel with Abhishek Sharma, so unstoppable on Wednesday. Archer starts by beating him outside off, but sees the next ball spooned over cover for four. Archer bounces back, beating him again, but Abhishek responds in kind, stepping away to slash him for four more, then upper-cutting for four more. What a player he is.
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Another email! It’s Krish again. “The one great thing about the Madras crowd (I do not like the new name Chennai),” he writes, “is that it is a knowledgeable and a fair crowd. They applaud good play irrespective of who is playing. Not like the Gujarat crowd that never once clapped during that great Travis Head innings in last year’s World Cup final. But the problem here, for me, is the format. T20 is just slog slog slog. We have compromised quality to gather eyeballs. Gone are the finesse and the duels. It’s like a museum visitor who covers the Louvre in three hours.”
Three hours? Call me a lightweight, but that sounds like a decent stint to me. Yes, there are a lot of big hits, but we’ve seen plenty of finesse today, from Arshdeep’s changes of pace to Wood’s Rootesque dab for four. And one of the great things about T20 is the way it allows the slow bowlers to flourish. SKY used five spinners, gave them 14 overs and reaped his reward with six wickets. England, for their part, took 118 from those 14 overs, so it was a very good contest.
England finish on 165
20th over: England 165-9 (Archer 12, Wood 5) One of the great sights in world cricket is Mark Wood bowling. And not far behind it is Mark Wood batting. Facing Arshdeep, he opens his account with an artful dab for four. Who does he think he is, Joe Root? Archer adds a couple, running more wisely this time, and that is that.
India remain the favourites after another commanding performance in the field. But England have done quite a bit better, especially against the spinners – still getting out regularly, but not going gently into that good night. And it’s a good effort to keep going at eight an over when nobody reaches 50.
Buttler was outstanding again, if not for long, hitting 45 off balls. And Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse did get 50 between them – Smith 22 off only 12, in a dazzling cameo on debut, and Carse a cool calm 31 off 17. Those two have made sure that Buttler has something to defend when he leads his team out.
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19th over: England 157-9 (Archer 8, Wood 0) Hardik Pandya, a forgotten man since the second over, returned for the penultimate one, which was neat but a bit hard on him. He did well, going for four singles off five balls, then removing Rashid.
WICKET! Rashid c Samson b Hardik 8 (England 157-9)
Rashid, tied down by Hardik, edges a lifter. That 172 suddenly looks a long way off.
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18th over: England 153-8 (Archer 7, Rashid 8) After a few bits and bobs, Jofra gets the memo! Facing Arshdeep, he square-drives for four. And the spin onslaught has ended, so England may yet make it to that projected score of 172.
17th over: England 144-8 (Archer 2, Rashid 5) Adil Rashid, so calm with the bat as with the ball, faces his fellow leggie Bishnoi and cuts him for four. Now he just has to manage Jofra, who looks burdened with guilt and may need telling to take it out on the ball.
WICKET!! Carse run out 31 (England 137-8)
Jofra Archer, what have you done? You’ve extinguished England’s last hope! Going for a second run, then changing your mind… and not realising you had to sacrifice yourself.
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16th over: England 136-7 (Carse 29) That was Varun’s last ball, so not a good moment to get out. But just before the wicket, Brydon Carse had confirmed the suspicion that he is a superb No 8. He greeted Varun with a six to long-on, the shot several England batters have played tonight. And unlike them he followed it with another six, flipped over fine leg.
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WICKET! Overton b Varun 5 (England 136-7)
And another … as usual it’s the googly, and as so often it sneaks through the gate. But that was a handy partnership.
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15th over: England 121-6 (Overton 5, Carse 15) Not one of India’s three spinners went for a run a ball in the first match, when they took five for 67 off 12 overs between them. Here, all five of them have gone for more than a run a ball: they’ve taken five for 101 off 12 overs. The McCullum effect.
14th over: England 117-6 (Overton 4, Carse 12) One good temperment replaces another as Brydon Carse takes over. He produces the two-card trick too, albeit with a dot in between: first he swings Axar for six, then he cuts him, a little edgily., for four. England’s projected score is 172.
13th over: England 106-6 (Overton 3, Carse 2) So SKY turned to his fifth spinner… and got a wicket out of him. A great shame for Smith, who had shown what a fast learner he is by using the same ploy as Buttler and Brook – dancing down the track to loft for six, then rocking back to carve through the offside for four. He could have a wonderful career.
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WICKET! Smith c Tilak b Abhishek 22 (England 104-6)
Nooo… just when Smith was looking really good, with a six and a four, he picks out the man at long-off. And with him go most of England’s hopes.
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12th over: England 94-5 (Smith 12, Overton 3) Smith, who is 24 and making his first appearance in T20 internationals, is now the last man standing from England’s batting, with just the bowlers for company. At least he has someone he knows from Surrey at the other end – Jamie Overton, England’s licensed slogger at No 7. Mind you, now McCullum is in charge, they all have licence to slog.
WICKET! Livingstone c sub (Harshit) b Axar 13 (England 90-5)
Oh dear. Another mistimed pull, another simple catch in the deep.
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11th over: England 90-4 (Livingstone 13, Smith 11) We know Smith has a strong temperament and he shows it now by lofting Varun for six! England have lost wickets again to the spinners, but they haven’t been as passive.
10th over: England 78-4 (Livingstone 10, Smith 1) It’s been a different game since the seamers disappeared. As so often when England set foot on Indian soil.
Drinks: England wobbling again
As they’re three balls from the halfway stage, the umpires call for drinks. India celebrated Buttler’s wicket as if they’d won the game, and they may well have done. Jamie Smith, on debut, finds himself with rather too much responsibility on his young shoulders.
WICKET!!! Buttler c Tilak b Axar 45 (England 77-4)
That’s the big one! Buttler pulls a ball from Axar Patel that is too bouncy and gives a simple catch to deep midwicket. And some idiot just said that Buttler was in top form.
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9th over: England 75-3 (Buttler 45, Livingstone 8) While Buttler looks in top form, Livingstone, facing Varun, is nowhere near it. His first attempt at a big shot is badly mistimed, but his sheer power brings four anyway as his pull eludes the man at deep square. Quite a lot hinges on whether Livingstone can find his feet.
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8th over: England 66-3 (Buttler 43, Livingstone 3) SKY, seeing England struggle against Varun, gives Bishnoi the luxury of a second successive over. Buttler parks the big hits for the moment, settling for fluent flicks into the leg side.
7th over: England 61-3 (Buttler 39, Livingstone 1) So Varun picks up where he left off in Kolkata – one over, three runs, one wicket. England badly need to see the best of Liam Livingstone, who already has one more run than he managed then.
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WICKET!! Brook b Varun 13 (England 59-3)
Varun Chakravarty took out England’s middle order the other night, and he’s at it again! Brook, not seeing so clearly after all, goes forward, plays outside the googly that seems to be Varun’s stock ball and gets bowled through the gate. He trudges off to the sound of some remarks from the bowler, possibly to do with the air quality.
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6th over: England 58-2 (Buttler 37, Brook 13) On comes Ravi Bishnoi, so that’s three spinners already and we’re still in the Powerplay. Buttler greets him with another six, his third, hit hard and flat straight down the ground. A few singles and that’s the end of a Powerplay that has gone far better for England. Who needs openers?
5th over: England 47-2 (Buttler 27, Brook 12) The other evening, the only England batter to keep Buttler company for more than five minutes was Harry Brook, his new deputy, who made 17. Brook starts strongly now, slog-sweeping Axar Patel for six, then (like Buttler) rocking back to leg and piercing the offside ring, with a drive in his case. He can see clearly now the smog has gone.
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4th over: England 35-2 (Buttler 26, Brook 1) After grabbing a wicket with his first ball of the series, Washington Sundar takes a bit of punishment. Buttler dabs him for two, then swings him for six. Washington dec ides to try and get him stumped and almost succeeds, albeit with a ball so wide of off that it might well have been called wide in a Test. Buttler has 26 off 14 balls – the one batter who is already showing the McCullum effect.
WICKET! Duckett c Jurel b Washington 3 (England 26-2)
England face their first ball of spin … and lose a wicket! Duckett plays a reverse-something and a top edge loops up to point. Once again, both England openers have flopped.
Buttler takes 16 off an over!
3rd over: England 26-1 (Duckett 3, Buttler 18) This is more like it from Buttler, who pulls Arshdeep for a fierce flat four. Next ball he comes close to perishing, hitting a crosscourt forehand that falls just short of mid-on, but a misfield brings two. Then he flirts with a ramp, but the ball is too wide of off for him to hit it. Buttler bounces back with a lofted drive for six, and then, as SKY moves the field to leg, he steps back and cuts through the covers for four. Magnificent stuff.
2nd over: England 10-1 (Duckett 3, Buttler 2) Duckett gathers himself and glances a single off the next ball, but this over is a quiet triumph for Hardik – dot, dot, one, dot, dot, one. The second single is an agricultural hack from Buttler, giving him the charge but not timing the shot at all.
Meanwhile John Starbuck has a question. “How likely is it that two England sides would lose on the same day, and for the same reasons: insufficient skill against spinners?” He answers it himself in the subject line: ““England to lose again today.” That’s the spirit!
Duckett takes a blow to the head
Hardik Pandya shares the new ball again and soon hits Duckett on the side of the helmet – jaw rather than temple. There’s a dot of blood on his cheek as the physio conducts the noe-standard tests, but happily Duckett looks fine.
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1st over: England 8-1 (Duckett 2, Buttler 1) Salt had started so well, needing only one ball to improve on his duck in the first game. It was a gentle inswinger from Arshdeep and Salt clipped it over midwicket for a promising four. That’s the trouble with promise: ou can’t always believe it.
Ben Duckett began with a false shot, a leading edge as he played for swing (outswing to him) that wasn’t there. But at least he survived. Jos Buttler starts nice and calmly, nudging into the on side for a single.
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WICKET! Salt c Washington b Arshdeep 4 (England 6-1)
Here we go! Salt pulls a lifter that is too far outside off and only succeeds in top-edging it. It sails through the evening air and goes straight down the throat of Washington Sundar at deep square.
The players are out there and the announcements are booming around the ground like gunfire. Phil Salt and Ben Duckett have one job: to get out of the Powerplay alive.
In England this series is being shown by TNT Sports, who seem to be in love with Alistair Cook. The England selectors trusted him to play only four T20 internationals during his long and distinguished career and he rather proved their point with scores of 15, 9, 11 and 26. Nonetheless, here he is, giving us the benefit of his lack of experience, and sounding, as ever, as if he’s talking with his mouth full. To make matters worse, TNT keep referring to him as Sir Alistair, which would only make sense if Steve Finn, sitting next to him, was addressed as Mr Finn.
We have our first email, from an old friend. “It’s OK for Ravi Shastri to say a nice pleasant evening in Chennai,” says Krish Krishnamoorthy. “They declare it is winter there when the temp is 26 (or when the coconut oil freezes in the early morning hours), but it is 26 at 7 in the evening.” Sounds pretty good from where I sit, on a cold winter’s day in London. And the coconut oil is a great touch.
You have been warned.
India playing 4 spinners in this match; so England could face up to 16 overs of it tonight. Washington Sundar could open the bowling #INDvsENG
— Richard Gibson (@richardgibsonDM) January 25, 2025
Teams: two changes apiece
England make two changes – not just Carse for Atkinson, but Jamie Smith for Bethell, who is unwell. For Smith, this is a T20 international debut. He has produced some fabulous clean hitting in his first few Tests, but only after taking his time to play himself in.
India make two changes too. They leave out two players who neither batted nor bowled in the first game, Rinku Singh (now injured) and Nitish Kumar Reddy. In come Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar, so SKY has yet another frontline spinner in his armoury.
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England lose the toss again
“A nice pleasant evening here in Chennai,” says Ravi Shastri. Not for Jos Buttler, who calls wrong for the second time out of two. Suryakumar Yadav has no hesitation making England bat first again. “I would have loved to do the same,” says Buttler, sounding as affable as ever. “Same game plan, just do it better.”
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to the second match in this T20 series. The question is: will it be the second mismatch? On Wednesday, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Brendon McCullum’s new England capitulated to SKY’s new India, losing with seven overs to spare.
A complete unknown outside India, Varun Chakravarthy, ripped through England’s middle order with his googlies. Another less than household name, Abhishek Sharma, then helped himself to 79 off 34 balls with eight sixes. McCullum’s big idea – picking a battery of pacemen – backfired as Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood and Jamie Overton bowled 35 balls and took none for 73. Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler were both excellent, but we knew that already. Harry Brook, the new vice-captain, said afterwards that it was the smog wot won it.
Today in Chennai the air should be clearer. Whether the England batters’ minds are, we shall see. Most England teams that go to India end up getting tormented by the spinners. It’s just that usually they win a match first.
England have said that Brydon Carse will come in for the red-faced Atkinson but there’s a doubt about Jacob Bethell, who may give way to Jamie Smith. Play starts at 1.30pm GMT and I’ll be back just after 1 with the toss and teams.
For England supporters, there’s yet another embarrassment in Australia to ponder. But at least you can enjoy Tanya Aldred’s turn of phrase.
