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Trent Bridge, Nottingham: Things just got from bad to worse for India, as England thumped them by 125 runs, their worst defeat in the T20I format, at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground in Nottingham in the third T20I of the Vitality five match T20I series on Tuesday, July 7. Blitzing performance with the bat from Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Sam Curran guided England to 201/7, and then a complete crumble of India’s batting limited them to an embarrassing 76, giving England a 2-0 lead in the series, and extending India’s post World Cup winless run to five.
Another toss won by Shreyas Iyer, but this time he put India into bowl, the first time in this English tour. The pitch offered great movement despite the heatwave conditions, and England struggled to find the ball with bat against Arshdeep Singh. Harshit Rana on the other hand gave leeway for Jos Buttler to open the scoring, and in fact get it running. The veteran desperate to find form unleashed a brutal onslaught in the powerplay, whereas Phil Salt was still giving amateurish vibes, lost in the middle.
The incoming Prince Yadav put a stop to Buttler’s rampage with his first ball, a sharp yorker knocking back to the leg stump. Post powerplay, captain Harry Brook went big as he did in Manchester, but found Abhishek Sharma at deep mid-wickethanding Yadav his second of the day. Salt finally decided to wake up, and disrupted India’s momentum with Bengaluru teammate Jacob Bethell.
The pressure was taken off by the weaker spin from Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel. Rana would end that partnership and then some in the 12th over. First Bethell launched it high, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came in from deep square leg to hold onto it. Then on the very next delivery, Tom Banton attempted an upper cut from the shorter off ball, but guided the ball towards Varun at deep third, giving Rana back-to-back scalps
Salt felt truly settled approaching the end, seeming his usual self and crossing the fifty mark. Axar then made him misjudge an inside out slog, looping it to Arshdeep inside the circle, ending his innings on 70. Sam Curran went from the supporting to the lead role as we entered the death. Rapid running, Will Jacks’ two maximums and some fielding errors made 200 quite within reach. England did eventually get to it, but in a more unceremonious manner than expected, with two run outs in the final over, ending on 201/7.
Abhishek and Sooryavanshi played their usual slog game, and India were looking more like the T20 World champions they are. But in typical T20 fashion, the slogging would be their undoing. Abhishek was the first to fall, pulling Josh Tongue to Salt at deep backward square leg, not the first catch going there. A Sooryavanshi special was looking on the cards after two effortless maximums, but he edged it to Buttler behind the stumps attempting his signature hook over deep fine leg against Jofra Archer, who has his number twice in two games.
Ishan Kishan then dispatched a pull straight to Bethell at deep square leg once again, against Tongue, just like Abhishek. Then the next ball, on the other end, Iyer flicked it to Bethell over there yet again, this time with Archer bowling. The Archer-Buttler duo struck again, getting Axar with an outside edge forcing the left hander to move off for a cut.
Bizarrely, bowler Rana was the next to come in, possibly to keep the left-right combo, as Tilak Varma was on the pitch. But that tactical genius went nowhere, as Varma was stumped by Buttler, albeit in a messy manner, with Jacks bowling. At a point where England were 60/1, India found themselves on 60/6. Buttler got his fourth dismissal of the game in Shivam Dube, with another edge caught behind, and Tongue bowling to get his third.
Arshdeep went next, dismissal no. 5 for Buttler, this time with Adil Rashid bowling, swing, edge, loop and caught. Rana then sliced Tongue to Banton at backward point, who held on tight diving, and the pacer finished with figures of 4/28 in his second T20I. Varun prevented India from breaking the record of their lowest T20I total of 74 with a boundary, only to be bowled next ball by Rashid, ending the innings on 76, their second T20I total.
What we learned
Curated pitches can’t save you anymore: This current Indian side has now truly shown that they have been spoilt playing on home conditions. The flat home wickets, dew conditions and high altitude that attribute to the monster totals that made this Indian side the juggernauts of world cricket. But that’s the thing isn’t it. They haven’t been playing “world” cricket. The majority of India’s positive results in the last two years have come on home soil, including the T20 World Cup win earlier this year.
The English swing, bouncier wicket and the new addition of a sweltering heatwave are conditions that the Indian batters not just can’t, but refuse to adapt to. Blind swinging the bat can only get you so far, and after four defeats in five games in the English and emerald isle, that lesson is just not budging through their heads. Or at least the head of the coaching staff. A desperate rethink of the T20 strategy is needed, because as of now due to this winless streak, it’s seeming India have never had one.
What they said
Indian head coach, Gautam Gambhir: “I think we just haven’t played well, as simple as it can get. You don’t become a bad team after four games, do you?”
“You don’t become a bad team, sometimes if the opposition plays better than you, you don’t assess the conditions better, you don’t read the conditions better, sometimes the game is equally important as well, so we haven’t done that since Ireland and there are the results, if you don’t read the conditions and you don’t play the conditions better, you will end up being on the losing side.”
(On Prince Yadav’s performances) “It is just two games, don’t jump the gun, I think he still has a lot to improve, I think that is where we need to get better as well, I think he started off his T20 career really well, especially today, because on these conditions and against a batting lineup like this, obviously he had put his hat up and performed phenomenally well, but again he has got a lot to improve as well.”
Jofra Archer, England: “I think it’s just how the lot went today. I think we worked pretty well in Manchester. Neither of us really got the wickets to show for it so we’re just glad that we got something to do.
I don’t think it (the pitch) was that pacey to be honest. I think it may have been a little bit too pacey. It was a strong win so honestly it didn’t really feel that way but ultimately it happened anyway.”
(On bowling to Sooryavanshi) “I bought bounces at everyone to be honest. Sometimes you’ve just got to hold your nerve. We held it long enough today and it paid off.”
