England vs India, T20 series- Rating the performance of Indian Players
Gentlemen, take out the record books right now because it's time to rewrite the history. With a mammoth 7 wicket win against England in Bristol, India registered their first-ever T20I series win over England in their own backyard.
Chasing the target convincingly, thanks to a memorable century by none other than Rohit Sharma and tremendous all-round performance by Hardik Pandya, India's victory propelled them to #2 on ICC T20 Team Rankings just behind Pakistan, whom they also joined as the only second team to win 6 consecutive IT20 series.
It was a tremendous overall performance by the team and will give them a lot of confidence as they now move forward to present a challenge to England in the two longer formats in the upcoming weeks. Here are the ratings for each Indian player, who was part of the Playing XI, based on their performance in this historic series win.
Top Order
Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan has a love affair with English playing conditions, and we are all aware of his phenomenal record in England, and this is exactly why it was shocking to see him struggle in the first three matches of this tour.
With scores of 4, 10 and 5 in the three matches, giving him a cumulative total of 19 runs in 3 matches, Dhawan's performance was the only down from the impeccable Indian batting order from this series.
Falling to Willey in two matches and getting himself run out another, this is probably the worst Shikhar could have performed in England. Hope he regains his form in the upcoming matches, but for now, his form in T20 series was a big thumbs down
Rating :- 3/10
Rohit Sharma
All Hail The Hitman! Talk about a game-changing performance that changed a challenging chase into one of the easiest one in recent times. With a century in the final T20, Rohit joined Colin Munro as the only two batsmen with 3 IT20 hundreds.
While his knock of 100 runs in 56 balls played the anchor role in the series decider in Bristol, his performance in the remaining two matches was not below par by any methods. He held one end of the wicket during the 1st match with his knock of 32 runs but failed to get going in the second fixture.
Rohit has been in sublime form as he finished the series as the highest run scorer. If his performance in this series is a sign, then we can surely expect him to perform big time in the ODI series as well.
Rating:- 9/10
KL Rahul
Wow, Who would have thought before the start of the series that Virat Kohli, India's longtime #3 batsman, would not play at that position in any match? I'll tell you, no one. And guess what, his replacement at that spot, KL Rahul, did a splendid job at that position.
While his class and talent was never in doubt, his impressive performance in IPL skyrocketed his stock, and he made full use of the opportunity given to him. A century in the first match made him the 2nd Indian after Rohit Sharma to score two T20I hundreds.
Thanks to that splendid knock of 101 runs in the opening match and a useful 19 in the final fixture, Rahul ended the series with 126 runs - the second highest in the series. Rahul will be hoping to carry onto this form in the ODI and Test series.
Rating:- 8.5/10