3 positives for India from the 2nd T20I against England
A complete bowling performance and a measured run-chase helped India register a comprehensive 7-wicket victory over England in the 2nd T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Debutant Ishan Kishan, who was brought into the team in place of Shikhar Dhawan, was the Man of the Match for his attacking fifty. The young southpaw played fearlessly right from the outstet, and took the game away from England early on in the second innings.
There were a number of other positives for India from the 2nd T20I against England, and here are 3:
#3 Washington Sundar's bowling to the English right-handers
India opted to play an extra batsman in the 2nd T20I by replacing Axar Patel with Suryakumar Yadav, and this meant that Washington Sundar was one of the two spinners in the playing XI.
While Sundar is always economical, his ability to take wickets regularly and keep opposition right-handers in check has been under scrutiny. The young off-spinner put those doubts to rest - at least temporarily - with his performance in the 2nd T20I.
Sundar dismissed Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow, with both of them caught in the deep on the leg-side. He should've had the latter earlier, but Suryakumar Yadav shelled a catch on the boundary.
Varying his trajectory effectively and bowling with clear plans in mind, Sundar was the pick of the Indian bowlers. Captain Virat Kohli had this to say at the post-match presentation:
"To give away only 34 in the last five, it was very smart bowling by all our bowlers. Special mention to Washi, he had only one left-hander to bowl to in the middle overs, and he changed pace and used the big boundary really well against the right-handers better."
#2 India's 3-man pace attack delivers
Another consequence of India strengthening their batting was that they went in with only 5 bowling options, 3 of which were pacers.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn't have to do much in his last game, which was his first on return from injury. But he made an impression in this one, sending back the dangerous Jos Buttler for a duck and then varying his pace effectively in the latter half of the England innings.
Shardul Thakur scalped a couple of wickets as well, and foxed Eoin Morgan with a delightful slower ball. Hardik Pandya bowled 4 overs for the first time since his back surgery, and although he didn't pick up wickets, he looked comfortable.
India don't have many frontline T20I pacers available for this series - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and T Natarajan. But Thakur, Kumar and Pandya ensured that their absence wasn't felt.
#1 Captain Virat Kohli's return to form
Although the Man of the Match award went to Kishan, Indian captain Virat Kohli had an equally important role to play in the run-chase. After coming in at 0/1, he scored an unbeaten 73 off 49 balls to take his team across the line with 13 balls to spare.
Kohli's long-awaited return to form was welcome for India, and the fact that it came in a trademark measured run-chase made it all the more sweet. The 32-year-old didn't look to be in any sort of trouble throughout his stay at the crease, and calmly hit the winning runs off Chris Jordan.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Kohli said:
"I had to shift the focus back to the basics. Probably thinking of too many variables on the outside. I've always taken pride in doing the job for the team, so more happy about that than scoring 70 odd. Kept my eye on the ball. The management spoke to me about things. Anushka is here, so she also keeps speaking to me about things. And I had a special chat with AB de Villiers before this game, and he told me just to watch the ball. So I did!"