England vs India 2018: 5 things we learnt from the T20I series
After a good start to the UK in Ireland, India have continued the same form into the T20I series against England. The fact that India has managed to win the tournament without Jasprit Bumrah is commendable.
India registered a convincing win in the first match, thanks to Kuldeep's five for and KL Rahul's century. In the second match, Indian batsmen faltered on a tough batting pitch. The English batsmen made sure that they do not make similar mistakes and helped their side level the series.
India suffered another big blow in the pace department just before the decider in the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In spite of the setback, Indian bowlers were excellent in the death overs and managed to restrict England to a score which was 20-30 short of the par score.
The excellent bowling effort from the inexperienced lineup on a flat pitch made the work of the Indian batsmen easy. Rohit Sharma, the man of the series, hit a fluent century and helped India chase down the target easily with eight balls to spare.
With India winning the T20I, there are a few things that everyone should know about before proceeding to the next part of the tour. Here are the five things that we learnt from the T20I series:
#1 KL Rahul, 'an invaluable asset'
He did not make a similar impact in the next two matches but he never looked out of touch. In the second match, he was cleaned up by Plunkett in an unnecessary attempt to loft the ball over the inner circle. In the third match, he perished as a consequence of a superb catch by Chris Jordan.Every ardent follower of Indian cricket is aware of the immense talent possessed by KL Rahul. A cricketer who can dominate in all formats of the game is an invaluable asset to the team.
Rahul has brought his IPL form to the United Kingdom and is making the most of his purple patch. After scoring a half-century against Ireland, he went a step ahead in the very first match of this series and scored a century while chasing down England's 159.
In spite of the two blips, Rahul is definitely the one to watch out for in this tour to England. A gifted player like him is bound to improve as he plays more and more matches. Rahul, undoubtedly the second most talented player after Virat Kohli, should not be kept waiting on the sidelines and he will most likely be given the chances that he deserves in this tour of England.