Tilak Varma sealed the deal for India by hitting a brilliant 72 not out and taking the hosts to a thrilling two-wicket win over England in the second T20I at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday.
The nail-biting win also gave India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. After restricting England to 165/5 in 20 overs, India were quick off the blocks but were soon reduced to 78/5, thanks to the visitors’ bowlers taking scalps with absolute rockets.
Tilak Varma, who had a blazing start to his knock by then, switched his batting gear and handled the pressure well to get his first fifty in India, which he didn’t celebrate.
By using the pace of England’s bowlers to take the majority of his runs behind the square region, Varma showcased his remarkable temperament by keeping calm and batting with the tail-enders for company. He then hammered Jamie Overton through extra cover to complete the chase with four balls to spare, with Tilak ending the game unbeaten on 72 off 55 balls, laced with four boundaries and five sixes.
After getting India over the line, Varma soaked in the adulation as the Chepauk crowd went berserk overseeing a knock and match they will remember for ages, with the Vande Mataram song by AR Rahman blaring from the music system adding more to the emotion at the venue. The chase began with Abhishek Sharma hammering Jofra Archer for three boundaries in the opening over, before trying to play across the line resulting in him being trapped lbw off Mark Wood. Archer struck when he hurried Sanju Samson into the pull and was caught in the deep.
Suryakumar Yadav began well against England’s extreme pace ploy by hitting three quick boundaries, while Varma took a liking to Archer’s speeds by slashing him for four, before flicking and pulling him for two sixes. He welcomed Brydon Carse with a pull over fine leg for six before the pacer came back to castle Suryakumar with pace and had Dhruv Jurel pulling to mid-wicket. India got another big blow when Hardik Pandya tried to cut off Carse, but gave a bottom edge behind to keeper Phil Salt.
With Buttler rotating his bowlers well and pacers bouncing batters out, India were in a dire situation. As Varma took up the holding role, Washington Sundar scooped Overton for four and was dropped by Adil Rashid for ten. He then took a liking to Wood’s pacy deliveries by pulling him for six, before hitting him over mid-off for two fours to bring India back in the game.
While Axar Patel slog-swept to the man at the deep off Liam Livingstone, Varma reverse-swept him and brought up his fifty by swivelling Archer for six. He then slashed him over point for six, before Arshdeep Singh got a lucky boundary off him for four more.
But England came back by having Arshdeep toe-ending to mid-wicket off Rashid, with pressure firmly on Ravi Bishnoi and Varma. Bishnoi neatly clipped and edged for his two fours, before Varma finished off the chase with a beautiful four to punch the air with absolute delight and seal a thrilling win for India.
Brief scores:
England 165/9 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 45, Brydon Carse 31; Axar Patel 2-32, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-38) lost to India 166/8 in 19.2 overs (Tilak Varma 72 not out, Washington Sundar 26; Brydon Carse 3-29, Adil Rashid 1-14) by two wickets
