England vs India 2018, 2nd T20I, Cardiff: 5 talking points as England beat India by 5 wickets
After losing the first T20I in Manchester, England bounced back strongly in the second T20I in Cardiff as they beat India by five wickets to level the three-match series 1-1.
After put into bat, India were off to a disastrous start as they lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul early. Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli steadied the ship and thanks to some late blitz from MS Dhoni towards the end, India ended up scoring 148/5 in their 20 overs.
Chasing a par total on a slow-paced wicket, England found themselves in deep trouble before Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan and Jonny Bairstow took their team to safety. Hales saw off the Indian wrist spinners and thanks to his unbeaten 58, took his team home with two balls to spare.
#5 Shocking start to India's innings
India were inserted in by Eoin Morgan and the start was just what the England captain would have wanted.
Rohit Sharma tried to force the issue, he wanted to pull a short of a length ball away, but was only able to get the top edge. The ball went up high in the air, and Jos Buttler settled down under the skier and gobbled up the catch clean.
Shikhar Dhawan was the next to go, and he was a tad unfortunate, or a tad careless, he bunted the ball to point, too off for a single, but then did not drag his bat in, and after numerous replays the third umpire adjudged him out.
India were reeling, but they still had KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in the centre. However, it did not last for too long.
Liam Plunkett bowled a length ball, Rahul wanted to drive it on the up over covers, but missed the ball, and had his stumps dislodged for only six runs.
A shocking start for India as they never got going in the first six overs and could only muster 31 runs in the first six over and lost three wickets.