2018 India Tour of England - Second T20 at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Friday July 06,2018

3-Match T20 Series Results

First T20 at Old Trafford Manchester Tuesday July 03,2018
Scorecard
England 159/8 in 20 Overs
India      163/2  in 18.2 Overs
Match Result India won by 8 wickets
MOM - Kuldeep Yadav(India)for his 5/24(4 Overs)

Second T20 at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Friday July 06,2018 
Scorecard
India               148/5 i n 20 Overs
England          149/5 in 19.4 Overs
Match Result  Engalnd won by 5 wickets
MOM              Alex Hales(England)for his 58*(41 Balls 4x4 and 6x3)


India drew the first blood with a thumping victory over England at Old Trafford, Manchester on Tuesday July 03,2018

Kuldeep Yadav’s 5/24 and KL Rahul sensational hundred put India 1-0 ahead in the three-match T20 series.

Heading into the second T20I at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, a confident team India will look to wrap up the series with another convincing win over their rivals.

 England, however, does not need to panic and would rather benefit with self-introspection. Negotiating the wrist spinners and overcoming the middle-overs being the primary.

Patience will be the key for Three Lions if they are to succeed in the shortest format of the game against the likes of Yuzvenfra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

Facing a bowler like Kuldeep Yadav who can turn it both ways with enormous control is challenging for any team but England it proved a bit too much as they succumbed from 90/1 to 149/8.

Reportedly the English camp will deploy the services of spin-bowling machine ‘Merlyn’ at Cardiff to prepare their batsmen better. But captain Eoin Morgan had also emphasized the need to remain patient as dealing with pace is something the Englishmen are comfortable with.

That is evident from the good start and flourish they got towards the end of innings in the first game. Jos Buttler will continue to be the key player as he has been in tremendous form.

Others like Root, Bairstow, and Morgan need to settle around if England are to make a meal of this contest.

England defeat India by 5 wickets and level series at 1-1

Scorecard
India               148/5 i n 20 Overs
England          149/5 in 19.4 Overs
Match Result  Engalnd won by 5 wickets
MOM              Alex Hales(England)for his 58*(41 Balls 4x4 and 6x3)

England had never lost a single T20I at Sophia Gardens and it was a record which was almost broken on Friday. Alex Hales though rose to the occasion and smashed an unbeatn 58 to carry his team past India in the final over of the match for a 5-wicket win.

Alex Hales, along with Jonny Bairstow, showed some late fireworks in what was a closely-fought battle in the second of three T20Is. England needed 149 in a must-win match and did get a good start thanks to Jason Roy (15) and Jos Buttler (14). Both openers though fell to the pace of Umesh Yadav at a time when Indian spinners were expected to once again strike gold. Spin did play a minor role when Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Joe Root for 9 but skipper Eoin Morgan managed to keep the score ticking and hit 17 before falling to Hardik Pandya

That was the cue for Hales to take over and he helped himself to four boundaries and three sixes. His partnership with Bairstow (28 off 18) set things up nicely going into the final over and a six off the first delivery of the 20th almost sealed the match. The winning runs would come off the fourth delivery.

India came into Sophia Gardens with a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. But after they lost momentum within the first quarter of their innings, it was always a case of playing catch-up.

None of the first three batsmen in the line-up — Rohit Sharma, Sikhar Dhawan or KL Rahul — can say that they did not provide the opposition a toe-hold in the series.

Had the trio accounted for 50 to 60 runs, England might well have been shut out for the rest of the match. But before the Powerplay overs were done, it was India that looked increasingly vulnerable after having surrendered momentum

 

Bulk of the scoring then was done by Suresh Raina (27 off 20) and Virat Kohli (47 off 28) but their dismissals at key stages meant India could not launch a massive counter-attack. It was MS Dhoni who managed some explosive shots right at the end and it was his unbeaten 32 off 24 that helped his side to a respectable total.

With the series now level at 1-1, all eyes would be on Bristol when the two teams clash this Sunday.