"It was spectacular batting"- Stuart Broad hails India's performance in the second T20I
Stuart Broad was impressed with some of the shots played by debutant Ishan Kishan in his 94-run partnership with Virat Kohli in the second T20I between India and England.
The hosts registered a comfortable win, chasing down a 165-run target with seven wickets and more than two overs to spare, to level the five-match series at 1-1. Ishan Kishan earned the 'Man of the Match' award for his brilliant 56 off 32 balls. The left-hander took the attack to the England bowlers early on, with a watchful Virat Kohli joining the party after getting his eye in.
Speaking about India's performance in the second T20I, Stuart Broad hailed some of the shots played by Kohli and Kishan:
"It was spectacular batting; it did look like batting got a little bit easier, but that doesn't take anything away from the style of the cricket shots that were played. It was beautiful to watch, to be honest. And that's quite hard to say as an England fan," Stuart Broad said on Sky Sports.
The fast bowler also felt England set up a fairly competitive total, as the pitch didn't look easy to bat on. However, India cruised to victory with 13 balls to spare. Stuart Broad said in this regard:
"England set a competitive total; they might have wanted a few more, but it did look like the pitch was quite hard to score in the initial stages. But India pretty much cruised home. As soon as Kohli gets in, he makes batting look easy. You know he is such a big wicket; they would be disappointed that they missed a chance off him, although that was an incredibly tough one for Jos Buttler."
Stuart Broad explains where England went wrong
Tom Curran, playing his first game of the tour, conceded 16 runs in the last over of the Power Play.
Stuart Broad felt that maybe the visitors could have used a different bowler for that crucial over, as the one from Curran helped shift the momentum of the game in India's favour.
"Tom Curran hasn't played a lot of cricket. It is really hard to come in T20 and hit your strap straightaway. He bowled a very tough over - the final over of the Powerplay; it's one of the hardest ones to bowl. Maybe England can look back on that, and maybe they could have gone a slightly different route because it was almost that over where England lost the control and momentum of the game," Stuart Broad observed.
The third game of the five-match series starts in Ahmedabad on 16th March.