Virat Kohli’s return to form went in vain as India lost the one-off T20 International against England at Birmingham. Kohli slammed nine fours and a six in his 41 ball knock. Virat Kohli scored his first half-century of an otherwise disasterous tour on the last day. As much as it was late, the return to form might please Mahendra Singh Dhoni. His innings wasn’t about scratchy shots and edges. There was definite power and timing in his shots. He had his fair share of edges and dropped catches helping his cause. But that couldn’t take away from the fact that the Delhi batsmen was in vintage form.
Needing 181 to win, India’s chase got off on a wrong note as they lost the wicket of opener Ajinkya Rahane early. Eoin Morgan was innovative with his bowling changes introducing four bowlers in the first four overs. However, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli start a carnage scoring 48 runs from four overs during the period from 4th to 8th over. They put on 79 runs in 53 balls for the second wicket. The momentum by then had shifted in India’s favour by then.
However, after a flurry of wickets, the momentum had turned towards England. It was Mahendra Singh Dhoni who again did the rescue act with what he does best – fine finishing. But this time, he failed. He failed to calculate the risk of not giving the strike to Ambati Rayudu.Earlier English skipper Eoin Morgan hammered 70 runs off 31 balls to help England post an imposing 180 for seven. Morgan took the Indian bowlers to cleaners in the death over as England amassed 81 runs from the last five overs. The other significant contributions came from Alex Hales (40 off 25), Joe Root (26) and Ravi Bopara (21 not out off 14).
Barring debut spinner Karn Sharma (1/28), the visiting team’s bowlers proved expensive.
Morgan had won the toss and elected to bat first, making great use of the near-perfect playing conditions.
Debutant Jason Roy (8) and his opening partner Hales gave a quick start to England with 17 runs coming off the first over bowled by R Ashwin (0-37).
Indian skipper MS Dhoni then reverted to pace from both ends immediately. And it brought the first breakthrough for India, when Roy tried to clear the infield in the third over bowled by Mohammed Shami (3-38) and only managed to hit it to Ajinkya Rahane at cover.
Two balls later, Moeen Ali (0) was dismissed the same way, caught at cover by Rahane, only this time off Mohit Sharma (1-39). It brought Root to the crease and together with Hales he put on 48 runs for the 3rd wicket off only 40 balls.
During this time, they scored at 7.20 runs per over, with the power-play yielding 46 runs for the loss of 2 wickets.
Root, when on 8 not out, benefitted from Ashwin?s drop off Shami in the fifth over and afterwards the 50-run mark came up for England in the seventh over.
Hales had especially taken the attack to the Indian spinners, clearly enjoying the change in format, but he eventually fell to a slow bowler only. The credit for his dismissal though went to Rahane who took a stupendous catch as he ran in from long-on and covered quite some distance before completing a diving effort. The dismissal also triggered Root?s wicket three overs later, even as England were placed at 76 for three at the half-way mark of the innings. The centurion from Leeds fell to debutant Sharma, his mishit slog caught by Ambati Rayudu as the fielder ran in from deep midwicket.
This wicket brought Morgan and Jos Buttler (10) together and they put on 45 runs for the fifth wicket off just 28 balls, gaining momentum for the end of the innings.
Brief scores: England (Alex Hales 40, Eoin Morgan 71; Mohammed Shami 3/38, Karn Sharma 1) India (Virat Kohli 66, Shikhar Dhawan 33; Steve Finn 1/28).