2nd T20I: India beats England by 49 runs to seal series win with 2-0 lead

Rohit Sharma’s inspirational leadership and an aggressive approach saw India completely outclass England by 49 runs in the second T20 International to seal the three-match series with an unassailable 2-0 lead in Edgbaston on Saturday.

Batting first, India once again showed a start-to-finish aggressive intent while reaching 170 for eight riding on new ‘batting all-rounder’ Ravindra Jadeja (46 not out off 29 balls) after a sudden collapse during the middle-phase on a track full of pace and bounce.

With the ball, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s (3/15) new found rhythm in the powerplay overs was superbly complemented by the skilful duo of Jasprit Bumrah (2/10) and Yuzevndra Chahal (2/10) as England innings imploded for a meagre 121 in 17 overs.

If India’s batting has been very good in both the games, the bowling has simply been outstanding with complete domination in the PowerPlays.

Since he got full-time captaincy, the Indian team is yet to lose a match under him. There has been three clean sweeps -- New Zealand (3-0), West Indies (3-0), Sri Lanka (3-0) and a fourth against England in the current one looks imminent.

With three months left for the World T20, the playing XI on Saturday gave a glimpse of what could be the batting order and its



philosophy going forward.

Rishabh Pant’s (26 off 15 balls) elevation as an opener alongside skipper Rohit (31 off 20 balls) is a welcome move where the team at least wouldn’t be erring in the side of caution in the powerplay overs.

In between the duo, they hit seven fours and three sixes in the first six overs, an approach that was missing during last T20 World Cup.

The strategy is to not stop playing the shots even if wickets fall at one end and Virat Kohli (1 off 3 balls) did feel the peer pressure and the mis-timed skier showed his desperation.

But the most impressive aspect came to fore from 89 for five, as India still managed to reach 170, courtesy Jadeja, who didn’t have a great time in T20 cricket having had a torrid time in CSK during IPL.

Jadeja seemed to be playing with a free mind and it was evident that even as wickets fell at the other end, there was no letting up in his strokeplay as the scoreboard had a competitive feel to it.

Brief Scores: India: 170 for 8 in 20 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 46 not out, Rohit Sharma 31; Chris Jordan 4/27, Richard Gleeson 3/15).

England: 121 all out in 17 overs (Moeen Ali 35; David Willey 33; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/15, Jasprit Bumrah 2/10, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/10).