Key events
That’s all for today’s blog. Taha Hashim’s report will be on the site shortly and I’ll be back tomorrow morning for the 2nd T20 in the Women’s Ashes. See you then.
The player of the match is Varun Chakaravarthy
I’m used to seeing pitches like this in the IPL. I know they are good for the seamers but there are certain lengths I can bowl where the pitch is helpful. I’m trying to keep it away from the batter’s arc, slightly short of a length.
[On working on his overspin for two years] I realised I cannot beat batsmen through sidespin, I can only do it through bounce. I’d say I’m a 7/10 on that so there’s still more work to do.
Suryakumar Yadav’s verdict
[What pleased you the most?] I think the energy and the way we started in the field set the benchmark and we took it from there. All the bowlers had their plans and the way we batted was the icing on the cake.
[On picking three spinners] We wanted to stick to our strengths. We did the same thing in South Africa. We knew Hardik could take the new ball which gave us the extra cushion, and all three spinners did a wonderful job.
[On Varun Chakaravarthy] He’s keeping things very, very simple. He’s clear in his mind and most importantly his preparation is on point.
[On the batting] There’s a lot of freedom being given and we want to play a little differently to how we did in the 2024 World Cup. I’m very happy the way they’re going.
We’ve been working really hard with our fielding coach. There’s only one demand from him: that we have good energy.
Jos Buttler’s reaction
There was a little bit in the wicket early on, we probably didn’t expect that. But if you come through that phase it’s a pretty good pitch and a fast scoring ground.
We weren’t quite capable of enforcing the game we wanted to but we’re better for the run out.
Jofra Archer’s a superstar – he looked threatening and could have had a few more wickets. Mark Wood bowled really fast and it’s exciting to see the two of them operating in tandem.
[Is pace the way forward for England in T20s?] I think so, yeah. We want to be aggressive and watchable – we’re up against a team who are ultra-aggressive.
I’m really enjoying the environment. I’m a big McCullum fan, I always was when he was playing, so it’s great to be working with him.
Abhishek Sharma speaks
I just wanted to express myself. I’d like to give a special mention to the captain and coach for the freedom they have given us. They have told me to play my shots, even if it’s the first ball.
The pitch was sticking a bit, it was two-paced at time. I thought we might have to chase 160-170 but we bowled really well.
I knew they would bowl some short balls so I had a plan [to back away] and executed it very well.
India win by seven wickets with 43 balls to spare
12.5 overs: India 133-3 (Tilak 19, Hardik 3) Mark Wood delays the inevitable with a couple of angry rockets to Hardik Pandya, but Tilak hits the winning runs with a top-edge over Phil Salt’s head. They have given England a record hammering. This, by some distance, is England’s heaviest T20 defeat in terms of balls remaining. The previous record was 33 against Australia in 2017-18.
12th over: India 127-3 (Tilak 15, Hardik 2) Six to win.
WICKET! India 125-3 (Abhishek c Brook b Rashid 79)
Abhishek dances down to lift Rashid over extra cover and into the crowd. That’s a gorgeous stroke, the most elegant of his eight sixes. He holes out to long off two balls later to end a stunning innings: 79 from 34 balls with five fours and eight sixes.
He hit 69 from the last 28 deliveries. It’s a sign of how astonishingly well he played that Ravi Shastri he was trying to finish the match with one blow. India need eight to win.
11th over: India 116-2 (Abhishek 71, Tilak 14) This is an astonishing performance from Abhishek Sharma. Atkinson returns after drinks and is hit for six and four from his first two deliveries. Tilak joins in by cuffing a boundary down the ground.
Despite a good end to the over, Atkinson has the grisly figures of 2-0-38-0.
Drinks: India need 33 from 60 balls
10th over: India 100-2 (Abhishek 60, Tilak 9) Liam Livingstone assumes the position. Abhishek belts his first ball inside out for a one-bounce four, though that’s the only boundary from a pretty good over.
9th over: India 93-2 (Abhishek 54, Tilak 8) Abhishek hooks Overton for six to reach an audacious fifty from only 20 balls. That includes five sixes in the last 14 balls. There’s a bit of fortune when a top-edged pull lands just in front of Archer but, well, a certain Angus Fraser quote comes to mind.
8th over: India 83-2 (Abhishek 45, Tilak 7) Adil Rashid comes into the attack. After beating Abhishek with his first two deliveries, he drops a pretty simple return catch. Rashid’s frustration rapidly escalates when Abhishek hits 16 off the last three balls of the over. He crashes four through the covers, mishits a one-handed six over midwicket and then nails another six over long on. India need 50 from 72 balls.
7th over: India 67-2 (Abhishek 29, Tilak 7) England decide to bowl Jofra Archer straight through, something that almost certainly wouldn’t have happened before Brendon McCullum took over. It makes sense because he’s bowling well and wickets are England’s only chance of victory.
The tactic almost works when Tilak cuts a short ball just short of Atkinson, running in from deep point. That aside India are happy to see Archer out of the attack; he finishes a fine spell with a lifter that Tilak gloves onto his helmet and not far short of the man in the covers.
Archer ends with figures of 4-0-21-2; that might be his best spell since returning to the side last year. IMAGINE IF HE’S FIT TO PLAY IN THE ASHES.
6th over: India 63-2 (Abhishek 27, Tilak 5) Have pace, will travel: Mark Wood’s second over has been belted for 18. The first two balls were hit for six by Abhishek, a nonchalant flick over backward square followed by a flat cut over third man. He lashed four more back over Wood’s head, then top edged a hook that plopped safely on the leg side.
That’s the end of the Powerplay. England were 46 for 2 at the same stage and 61 for 2 after seven overs. Then they fell in a heap.
5th over: India 45-2 (Abhishek 10, Tilak 4) Tilak Varma charges his first ball and hacks it over the head of Salt for four. Archer smiles wryly.
WICKET! India 41-2 (Suryakumar c Salt b Archer 0)
Two wickets in four balls for Jofra Archer. Suryakumar pulls a slower short ball miles in the air, and Archer celebrates even before Phil Salt has taken the catch. It was actually a fairly awkward catch; had Salt dropped it, Jofra’s celebration would have launched a thousand memes.
WICKET! India 41-1 (Samson c Atkinson b Archer 26)
Jofra Archer gets his reward for a really good spell. Samson was hurried by a 90-mph short ball and pulled it towards deep square, where Atkinson stooped to take a good catch.
4th over: India 39-0 (Samson 24, Abhishek 10) England turn to Mark Wood, playing his first game since the Old Trafford Test against Sri Lanka in August. It doesn’t take him long to hit top gear: his fifth ball is a 96mph beast that bounces over the stumps and swings past Phil Salt for four byes.
A really good start from Wood. Only one run off the bat, and that came off a thick inside-edge from Samson.
3rd over: India 33-0 (Samson 23, Abhishek 10) The left-handed Abhishek Sharma gets off the mark with a sliced drive for four. He’s beaten twice but then larrups another spectacular six over the off side. India look like they want to get these runs in 10 overs, never mind 20.
Atkinson’s first over goes for 22
2nd over: India 23-0 (Samson 23, Abhishek 0) Samson finds life a whole lot easier against Gus Atkinson, smacking his first over for 22. There were four fours – pull, drive, clips through midwicket and backward square – but the best shot was an outrageous slap for six over extra cover. The strokeplay was beautiful, even if Atkinson’s started to his line and length as the over progressed. England are being taken to the cleaners.
1st over: India 1-0 (Samson 1, Abhishek 0) England need early wickets and have set the field accordingly: slip, leg gully and short leg. Samson gets a light working over during a good first over from Archer, who starts with a couple of full deliveries and then begins to jag the ball back into Samson from short of a length.
Samson takes a single off the last delivery; based on recent form that’s as good as a century. His last five T2oI innings before today were 111, 107, 0, 0, 109*.
Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson walk out to the middle. Jofra Archer will open the bowling.
India need 133 to win
“Hi, just got back from lunching out at our local fairly posh restaurant (Barbary Duck today, followed by apple & pear souffle) to find England have not been doing as well as they should,” says John Starbuck. “What a disappointment. So it’s down to our fabled fast bowling eh? We’ll see.”
I don’t think you need to be Quasimodo to know who’s going to win this game.
WICKET! England 132 all out (Wood run out 1)
20th over Mark Wood is run out trying to steal a bye off the last ball of the innings. In isolation that was a decent last over for England, with 11 coming from it. The previous 19, alas, were won emphatically by India. Arshdeep Singh set the tone with a masterful new-ball spell; then the spin bowlers befuddled England’s middle order.
At times, for an England fan, it was best watched from behind the sofa, particularly when the brilliant Varun Chakravarthy was bowling. Only Jos Buttler, who pumped a superb 68, looked comfortable. The next highest score was Harry Brook’s 17, and even that was full of false strokes.
WICKET! England 130-9 (Archer c Suryakumar b Hardik 12)
After hacking a few useful runs, Archer top-edges a short ball straight to the captain Suryakumar Yadav. Two balls remaining.
19th over: England 121-8 (Archer 4, Rashid 8) Arshdeep Singh, who started this rout with a fabulous new-ball spell. Rashid lifts a spectacular boundary over extra cover, a reminder of his unorthodox creativity with the bat, and then Archer survives an LBW review after being hit well outside off stump by a yorker.
India have bowled and fielded marvellously, sure, but their reviewing has been atrocious.
18th over: England 114-8 (Archer 2, Rashid 3) The consensus among the commentators is that this is a very good batting pitch and that England are muck against spin. Axar Patel, whose first over went for 15, ends with 4-1-22-2. Do call it a comeback.
17th over: England 110-8 (Archer 0, Rashid 1) We did say it wouldn’t be dull. Chakaravarthy ends a delicious spell of legspin with figures of 4-0-23-3.
WICKET! England 109-8 (Buttler c Reddy b Chakravarthy 68)
Atkinson faced 11 consecutive deliveries before his dismissal, a source of increasing frustration for Buttler. He releases some of that frustration by carting Chakaravarthy’s first ball into the crowd at midwicket. But that’s his last scoring stroke. He picks Chakaravarthy up towards deep square, where Reddy charges in and dives forward to take an outstanding low catch.
The umpires send it upstairs to ensure it was a clean catch, and so it was. Buttler goes for a coruscating 68 from 44 balls.
WICKET! 16th over: England 103-7 (Atkinson st Samson b Patel 2)
Atkinson’s miserable innings of 2 from 13 balls ends when he runs past one and is stumped by a mile. That’s the last ball of the over.
15th over: England 99-6 (Buttler 62, Atkinson 2) England bat all the way down to 11, but they’ll need to turn it up to 11 to get anywhere near a competitive score. Bishnoi befuddles Atkinson during a very good last over that includes four successive balls. He finishes with figures of 4-0-22-0.
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