Tilak Varma denies England as India edge to dramatic victory in second T20

This was a night of push and pull in Chennai, a match undecided until the final hit, the 20-over game at its best, initially belonging to Brydon Carse but ending with the roar of Tilak Varma. The India No 3 was both responsible and electric in a chase of 166, an unbeaten 55-ball 72 providing his side with a 2-0 lead in this five-match series with England.

Carse excelled, his 17-ball 31 followed by three crowd-silencing wickets. With India requiring 40 from 30, but with three wickets in hand, the match was turning towards the visitors. With Jofra Archer’s heat to take in once again, Varma had much to do.

But he had used it well earlier in the innings and he would do so again at the death. A top-edge for six was fortunate, a guide over the rope behind point the next ball outstanding, the England quick consigned to final figures of one for 60 off his four overs. Varma was responsible for half that tally.

The drama did not relent as Adil Rashid dismissed Arshdeep Singh at the end of a miserly 17th over, but nerves were held alongside Ravi Bishnoi – nine crucial runs off five – as Varma threaded Jamie Overton through the covers, a memorable victory settled with four balls to spare and two wickets in hand.

It had begun like a Wednesday re-run, Phil Salt and Ben Duckett going cheaply, the innings resting on Jos Buttler. Just like the series opener, the captain was dominant. He took sixes off Arshdeep, Bishnoi and Washington Sundar, welcoming the slow stuff in a thoroughly un-English manner.

But the introduction of Varun Chakravarthy after the powerplay was always going to be key, his whizzing googly having undone Harry Brook three days previous. It took little time to produce an even better sequel, Brook mystified by the ball sneaking past his forward prod, the bails removed, the pained smile an admission of a comprehensive defeat for 13.

View image in fullscreen Mark Wood celebrates with Harry Brook after taking the wicket of India’s Abhishek Sharma. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

Buttler then fell to Axar Patel’s dartish tempters, a miscue to deep midwicket for 45.

With England five down inside 12 overs, the old-world method would have been to consolidate, to ease up for a bit before a late slog. But this side’s alpha mantra demands six-hitting when in despair, so they did not relent. Jamie Smith, on debut, understood the assignment with 22 off 12.

Carse decoded Chakravarthy with consecutive sixes, but England would have to settle for a respectable total, not an imposing one, early success with the ball required.

“We lost a few wickets but the aggression was there that we ask for. We really took the game on and got up to what was nearly a defendable score,” said Buttler. “I was really happy with the style we played in.”

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Abhishek Sharma responded with three off-side boundaries off Archer. But Mark Wood, who turned 35 this month, remains a marvel, doing things with his body that make you fear for every muscle and bone, his and the guy at the other end’s, too. He thumped Sharma’s pad for the first strike before Archer rushed Sanju Samson on the pull. England’s rockets-only approach was working.

But Suryakumar Yadav and Varma, another one in India’s Oasis-ticket-queue of batting talents, embraced the speed. Varma played the shot of the eve, going on one knee to help Archer over fine-leg for six.

Carse intervened with his cramping pace to have Yadav drag on to the stumps and Dhruv Jurel pull to the substitute Rehan Ahmed at midwicket, leaving India 66 for four inside eight overs.

Rashid twirled away economically but erred in the field, dropping Sundar at mid-on off Wood with 70 required; the southpaw responded with a flurry of thrashes to the boundary in the same over.

Carse, once again, had an answer, a cross-seamer thudded in to rattle Sundar’s stumps before Axar holed out to Liam Livingstone with five overs left. But Varma remained too, right till the very end.

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