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India vs England 2nd T20 match ended as Harry Brook’s side took the lead against Shreyas Iyer’s side in the 5-match T20 series. Jacob Bethel snatched the match from India by playing a brilliant inning of 76* runs at the Emirates Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester. This is a new low for the India national cricket team, which has lost three consecutive games.
India won the toss and chose to bat first, with Vaibhav Suryavanshi finally making his debut in the match, with Sanju Samson out after consecutive low scores. England, who announced their squad last night, made a few changes, with Josh Tongue making his T20I debut and Jofra Archer returning to the side.
Abhishek Sharma gave a good start to India
After electing to bat first, Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Suryavanshi got off to a flying start as the latter was out for 14 off 10 balls and failed to convert his start into a big score on his T20I debut. Abhishek Sharma played an excellent inning of 43 runs in 24 balls with the help of 8 fours and one six.
Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan made a partnership of 65 runs in 42 balls as Iyer was out after scoring 37 runs in 22 balls. The southpaw looked good, but he failed to convert it into a big score and never got going, being out for 49 off 40 balls. Tilak Verma’s explosive inning of 24 runs in 11 balls helped the Men in Blue to post 190/7 in 20 overs.
England’s hero Jacob Bethel
India had a dream start as Arshdeep Singh dismissed both the openers, Jos Buttler and Phil Salt for ducks. Harry Brook’s counter-attack made things a little easier for the home team as he smashed 38 runs in 14 balls before Axar Patel took his wicket and reached the milestone of 100 T20I wickets.
Tom Banton and Jacob Bethel made a partnership of 67 runs, which was once again broken by Arshdeep, who dismissed Tom Banton for 39 runs. Jacob Bethel played an unbeaten inning of 76 runs with the help of 5 fours and as many sixes in 46 balls and won the match for the team with one over to spare. Ravi Bishnoi’s spell of 29 overs from the other end changed the course of the match.
“I think it turned out well in the end” – Jacob Bethel happy with POTM’s performance against India
Captain Harry Brook credited Jacob Bethel for his exceptional innings and winning the POTM. He took his time and settled on the wicket, which was a bit difficult, and now finished the game for the home team. He credited Harry Brook’s innings and also mentioned Banton’s important contribution.
“Yeah, I think, it worked out well in the end, but Brooky (Harry Brook) set the tone very well there when he came out to bat twice. He brought the pace straight back on him. And, it made it easier for me to go out there and give him the strike to start with and then when he got out, it’s a shame.”
“But I thought Banton came in and the partnership we built, we both would have loved to carry on and finish. But everyone just kept trying. And then, yes, in that kind of chase, you’re not going fast the whole time, but a few big overs and then the game changes. So, yes, it was one of them whose timing was really good.”