Chennai, 26 January . Tilak Verma’s brilliant unbeaten 72 helped India register a thrilling two-wicket win against England in the second T20 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The hosts have taken a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
After restricting England to 165/9, India started off very fast, but the team soon found itself in trouble due to the lack of a big partnership. At one point, its score was 78/5.
Tilak Verma changed gears and handled the pressure well. He scored his first half-century in T20 on home ground.
He scored most of his runs in the square using the pace of England’s bowlers. He played patiently and built partnerships with the tailenders, although he also kept hitting in between.
Tilak kept his patience after Jofra Archer took 19 runs in the 16th over. Tilak Verma reached India’s target with four balls to spare by hitting Jamie Overton for a four on extra cover in the last over.
Verma remained unbeaten on 72 off 55 balls with the help of four fours and five sixes.
Abhishek Sharma, who came to open the innings for India, hit three fours in Jofra Archer’s first over. However, he was out LBW off Mark Wood’s ball while trying to play the cross line.
Sanju Samson got caught in the deep while trying to pull Archer. Suryakumar Yadav started well by hitting three fours. Verma also slashed Archer for a four, then flicked and hit two sixes. He welcomed Brydon Carse by pulling him to fine leg.
However, Carse dismissed Suryakumar Yadav and Dhruv Jurel. India suffered another big blow when Hardik Pandya tried to cut a delivery from Carse, but the ball went behind to keeper Phil Salt.
The show after that was all in the name of Tilak Verma. Washington Sundar supported him well and hit a four off Overton. Adil Rashid dropped his catch on the score of ten runs. He then pulled Wood over the boundary line and then hit two fours over mid-off to bring India back in the game.
Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh also could not do much after Sundar’s dismissal. The pressure mounted on Ravi Bishnoi and Verma. Bishnoi neatly hit two fours and then Tilak hit a beautiful four to ensure India’s victory.
In England’s team, who came to bat first, captain Jos Buttler top-scored with 45 runs, while Brydon Carse made a significant contribution of 31 runs in 17 balls.
For India, Axar and Varun Chakravarthy bowled brilliantly with 2-32 and 2-38 respectively.
Brief scores:
England 165/9 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 45, Brydon Carse 31; Axar Patel 2-32, Varun Chakravarthy 2-38) beat India 166/8 in 19.2 overs (Tilak Verma 72 not out, Washington Sundar 26; Brydon Carse 3-29, Adil Rashid 1-14) by 2 wickets.
