England vs India 2018, 2nd T20I: Hits and misses
A spin bamboozled, yet aggressive white-ball English team, turned their woes around to win the second T20 international at Cardiff, thereby levelling the three-match series 1-1 and in the process ended India’s seven-match winning streak in T20Is.
Eoin Morgan won the toss and was more than eager to ask team India to bat first. Important contributions from the skipper Virat Kohli (47), Suresh Raina (27) and a 22-run final over finish from MS Dhoni helped India on its course to 148/5.
Although India tried to claw their way back with some excellent bowling, defending a small total was always tough, and it was indeed England who ended up on the winning side.
While Alex Hales took England over the line in what turned out to be a last over thriller, let us take a look at the hits and misses of the game.
#1 Miss: India’s top order failure
India usually boasts of a top order of the highest class but today was one such day where they were off colours.
A spongy wicket and a bit of lateral movement added to the woes of Rohit Sharma, who hasn’t been in the best of nicks off late. A top edge off a back-of-a-length ball from Jake Ball ended Rohit’s misery, handing Ball’s first T20I wicket and India, their first blow.
This was followed up by a bizarre run-out at the non-striker’s end as Shikhar Dhawan, hit on the elbow, responded to his partners call for a single but ended up centimetres short, hanging in the air as Eoin Morgan just about managed to remove the bails.
Cricket once again proved it is a great leveller as previous match centurion, KL Rahul was bowled off Liam Plunkett as he shuffled and lost his bails.
India scored just a paltry score of 31/3 in the powerplay, one of the lowest scores in the first six overs for India in T20I.