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India lose despite Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant ton
Hits maiden T20 century but gets little batting support with Virat Kohli failing again after England pile up 215 and win by 17 runs. India claim the series 2-1.
With the series in the bag, Sunday’s match was about India searching for more options in the countdown to the T20 World Cup squad formation. It was also an opportunity for some of the batters to push their case further. Suryakumar Yadav did just that with an innings (117 – 55b, 14x6, 6x4) that will be remembered for its audacity and enterprise, albeit in a losing cause.
England won by 17 runs to pull one back in the series, which India won 2-1. They held on despite the scare Yadav gave them, keeping India in the hunt until his dismissal in the 19th over.
At the end of the powerplay chasing a massive 216, India were way behind at 34/3. That was when Yadav decided to produce his best T20I performance. He had four fifties earlier and many cameos to display of his 360 degrees shot-making ability. And he’s done enough damage in IPL.
But Sunday was his day to impress in India colours. Under the bright afternoon sun at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, with India needing to consistently score 14 runs an over in the final 10, England bowlers had no response to Yadav’s power-packed lofted drives, supple wrists and exceptional sweep shots. Lording over the 119-run fourth wicket stand with Shreyas Iyer, Yadav took a heavy toll of England’s weak link, the spinners, taking 47 runs off the three overs shared by Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali in the middle overs.
Yadav’s awareness of the field was exceptional, his execution razor sharp. Even as he lost Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja after Iyer’s exit, he continued to play a lone hand, bringing the target down to 25 off eight balls before falling to Ali. Chris Jordan (4-0-37-2), who had a great series, sealed the match for England in the final over.
KOHLI’S WOES CONTINUE
Virat Kohli came to bat at the early fall of opener Rishabh Pant wearing his dancing shoes against David Willy’s swing. A flicked four over mid-wicket and a six over the bowler’s head raised hopes of the struggling batter’s return to form. But the air of expectancy vanished next ball as Kohli found the cover fielder. It wasn’t skipper Rohit Sharma’s day either as India lost the powerplay.
BISHNOI SHINES
India rested Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah and picked an inexperienced bowling line-up. Of the four rested, Hardik Pandya’s absence disturbed the balance of the side. The batting friendly surface offered a perfect chance for the hosts to put up a strong batting show that had been missing.
Walking in at No 3 after Jos Buttler’s wicket, Dawid Malan did the most damage with a 39-ball 77 (6x4, 5x6). A strong backfoot player against pace, he had no problems disturbing speedster Umran Malik’s rhythm. He also made the most of a favourable match-up against Jadeja’s left-arm spin, hitting him for three sixes.
On a pitch that demanded heavy use of slower balls, best demonstrated by Harshal Patel (4-0-35-2), the absence of variations in Malik’s bowling proved to be his undoing.
If India were indulging in a process of selection through elimination, they know by now that Malik (4-0-56-1), despite his pace, is far from a finished product at the big stage.
The selectors also know Jadeja (4-0-45-0) on current form only offers a sixth bowling option. Someone who did make the most of the dead-rubber was 21-year-old leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (4-0-30-2). He bowled across all three stages of the game and returned with flying colours. Bishnoi’s back-to-back wickets in the 17th over, removing the set Malan and Ali with flighted deliveries that were leaving the left-handers, reinforced his strengths against left-handers.
But England batters never dropped their guard. Livingstone (42*--29b) along with Malan raised the batting tempo in the middle overs while Harry Brook and Jordan got the big hits in the closing overs slamming 46 runs off the last three.
