Chennai, Jan 25: Tilak Varma sealed the deal for India by hitting a brilliant 72 not out, taking the hosts to a thrilling two-wicket win over England in the second T20I at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday. The nail-biting win also gives India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

After restricting England to 165/5 in an innings where 14 overs were bowled by spinners, the joint second-most their slower bowlers have bowled in a men’s T20I game. India were quick off the blocks but were soon reduced to 78/5, thanks to the visitors’ bowlers taking scalps with absolute rockets on the pitch which gave them enough help to execute their plans and the skipper being proactive with his plans.

Tilak, who had a blazing start to his knock by then, switched his batting gear and handled the pressure well to get his first T20I fifty in India, which he didn’t celebrate. By using the pace of England’s bowlers to take the majority of his runs in behind the square region, the batter from Andhra Pradesh showcased his remarkable temperament by keeping calm and batting with the tail-enders for company, while farming the strike on certain occasions.

After taking the 16th over off Jofra Archer for 19 runs, Tilak kept a steady head with ice in his veins and hammered Jamie Overton through extra cover to complete the chase with four balls to spare, with Tilak ending the game unbeaten on 72 off 55 balls, laced with four boundaries and five sixes. After getting India over the line, Tilak soaked in the adulation as the Chepauk crowd went berserk watching his knock and match they will remember for ages, with the Vande Mataram song by AR Rahman blaring from the music system adding more to the emotion at the venue.

India’s chase began with Abhishek Sharma hammering Jofra Archer for three boundaries in the opening over, before trying to play across the line resulting in him being trapped lbw off Mark Wood. Archer struck when he hurried Sanju Samson into the pull and was caught in the deep. Suryakumar Yadav began well against England’s extreme pace ploy by hitting three quick boundaries, while Tilak took a liking to Archer’s speeds by slashing him for four, before flicking and pulling him for two sixes.

He welcomed Brydon Carse with a pull over fine leg for six before the pacer came back to castle Suryakumar with pace and had Dhruv Jurel pulling to mid-wicket. India got another big blow when Hardik Pandya tried to cut off Carse, but gave a bottom edge behind to keeper Phil Salt. With Buttler rotating his bowlers well and pacers bouncing batters out, India were in a dire situation. As Tilak took up the holding role, Washington Sundar scooped Overton for four and was dropped by Adil Rashid for ten. He then took a liking to Wood’s pacy deliveries by pulling him for six, before hitting him over mid-off for two fours to bring India back in the game.

While Axar Patel slog-swept to the man at the deep off Liam Livingstone, Tilak reverse-swept for him and brought up his fifty by swivelling Archer for six. He then slashed him over point for six, before Arshdeep Singh got a lucky boundary off him for four more. But England came back by having Arshdeep toe-ending to mid-wicket off Rashid, with pressure firmly on Ravi Bishnoi and Tilak. Bishnoi neatly clipped and edged for his two fours, before Tilak finished off the chase with a beautiful four to punch the air with absolute delight and seal a thrilling win for India.

Previously, put into batting first, captain Buttler was fluent again to top-score with 45, while Brydon Carse led a late counter-attack with 17-ball 31 as England put in a much-improved batting performance by posting 165/9.

For India, Axar and Varun Chakaravarthy were the standout bowlers with 2-32 and 2-38 respectively. The start was great for India as Arshdeep removed Salt with a short ball which he pulled straight to deep square-leg. Buttler bossed Arshdeep in the third over by heaving him twice, before hitting in the gap through off-side to pick two fours and a six. Local boy Sundar struck another blow in power-play as Ben Duckett looked to reverse-sweep his slower ball, but gave a top edge to point.

While Buttler attacked by slamming Sundar and Bishnoi for six, Harry Brook dazzled by slog-sweeping and going inside-out against Axar for six and four respectively. But his promising stay was cut short by Chakaravarthy, who got one to turn in from outside off and castle Brook. At the mid-point of the innings, Axar had the big fish when Buttler tried to go over mid-wicket, but was caught in the deep for 45 off 30 balls. The left-arm spinner struck again when Livingstone went hard on the pull, but holed out to deep backward square leg.

Debutant Jamie Smith gave a good account of his front foot and back foot game by hammering two sixes and a four in his 12-ball 22, before lofting to long-off against Abhishek. Carse stepped up by dancing down the pitch and using his crease well to hit three sixes and a four in his 17-ball 31 before he and Overton fell in quick succession. A boundary each from Rashid, Archer, and Wood ensured England got over the 160-run mark, but it was not enough to overshadow Tilak’s brilliance in a tense finish.

Brief scores:

England 165/9 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 45, Brydon Carse 31; Axar Patel 2-32, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-38) lost to India 166/8 in 19.2 overs (Tilak Varma 72 not out, Washington Sundar 26; Brydon Carse 3-29, Adil Rashid 1-14) by two wickets

(IANS)

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