END OF OVER:19 | 10 Runs | ENG: 191/6 | RR: 10.05
- Jofra Archer10 (7b)
- Jacob Bethell76 (46b)
- Arshdeep Singh4-0-40-3
- Harshit Rana3-0-30-1
6.30pm What a great contest to get this series underway, proper: England are up 1-0 and both teams will now have a two-day break before they meet for the third T20I, at Nottingham on July 7. Till then, from me and Ekanth and our scorers, I wish all England fans a happy World Cup knockout day, and the rest of our fans a more neutral, equally propulsive time watching cricket and other sports. We'll see you soon! For now, good day and goodbye.
Time for the post-match presentation. Jacob Bethell, predictably, is Player of the Match for his rollicking knock in the chase! "It worked out well in the end. Just going in to bat, two down, Brooky set the momentum, made it easy for me... Everyone just kept chipping in. In those kinds of chases, you don't go rapid the whole time. Two big overs and the game swings. [On 17th vs Bishnoi] If I'm honest, I would have targetted the other end, my leg side with the wind, but you know, free hits, bowler's down, and you take it on. The thing with playing on different dimensions is one side might be easier to hit sixes, but you can also score runs hitting it into the bigger gaps. We were good with that as a team. I've really enjoyed that semi-final, they're a high skill attack. I've played them on two good pitches."
Now time for a chat with Shreyas Iyer: "I know where it all went away, but I don't want to pinpoint any particular player. After 15th game, momentum went away... [On Bishnoi] I think one no ball, I think he'll come back stronger. Then the game got away in the 17th over... he'll have to learn. It was a phenomenal score, on this track, Tilak's phenomenal 20 in the final over. Credit where due: watching Bethell, he definitely took on the bowlers. I think Sam Curran analysed the dimensions of the ground early on, did not give room to our left-handers. The batters are strong on leg side, he was not letting them play there. [Sooryavanshi debut] I think he's got that unflinching attitude... It's just sensational to watch. I wasn't anticipating him to be nervous, sensational cricket last couple of months and years. Definitely stepped up to the occasion, pleasing to the eye."
Finally, Harry Brook speaks: "Extremely pleased. It's one of the things we spoke about: try to get off the ropes and stop the ropes, we had 11, they had 5. With the wind and dimensions of the ground, we knew we could chase it. We were happy where we were after the powerplay. The way Bethell played was phenomenal. [Curran] He valued the winds and dimensions as well as he could. [On his knock] I think you've got to try and maximise the powerplay as well as you can. All our batters have shown innovation; can hit all around the ground. [On Bethell] He's an awesome talent out there, rallies the troops well in the field. He's so mature for his age. He's got a long career ahead of him."
6pm Those Bishnoi backfoot no-balls - three of them, to be precise - were pounced on by Bethell. India looked favourites to win this, especially after Axar's unhittable spell through the middle overs. But another spinner, the quicker Bishnoi, let the game slip through his fingers. He's a terrific bowler in the right headspace so you hope he recovers from this. But the truth is today, Bethell was incredibly clinical for a batter his age. And don't forget England captain Harry Brook, whose rapid-fire 39 in the powerplay set up the early overs for England. The overcast skies stay, though it luckily did not rain today. And we had a good contest to whet our appetite instead.
Labubu: "Kohliesque innings from bethel! "
Micah : "Seems like Archer is protecting Bethell from the strike" - Very droll, Micah
Raj: "India has an abundance of world-beating players, but I think recently they seem to be getting their tactics and sometimes selections completely wrong. " - They did, err, just win the World Cup...
Bj: "Bishnoi had a bad day. He is a good T20 bowler "
Harshvardhan: "Only if Bishnoi had given 9 in his last over, IND would have 30 run to defend in last 2 and could have been an interesting game!" - If my grandma had wheels etc, I'm afraid...
Arshdeep Singh back for his final over here.
sash: "why didn't Dawson come out b4 archer" - And here I was being accused of ragebait for suggesting the same!
END OF OVER:18 | 10 Runs 1 Wkt | ENG: 181/6 (10 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 10.05, RRR: 5.00)
- Jofra Archer1 (2b)
- Jacob Bethell75 (45b)
- Harshit Rana3-0-30-1
- Ravi Bishnoi4-0-60-0
Tony: "No heroics required. just keep.the ball on the ground." - Archer might not have got the brief, mate! He's swinging for the hills; and why not.
Sushant: "Watching from Toronto. Canada vs Morocco at FIFA World Cup about to begin. Huge challenge against heavyweight Morocco. Following India vs England on Cricinfo at the same time. Nervous. Excited. Let's go Canada! come on India!! "
Bethell's semi-final ton earlier this year, against India, was an all-timer. This match doesn't hold up in comparison, in terms of importance, but Bethell's taking England over the line this time around. He's such an unabashed talent with bat in hand.
SM Curran c Sooryavanshi b Harshit Rana 7 (14m 5b 1x4 0x6) SR: 140
Raj: "I think Bishnoi is in the team 2 years too late, he's quite the bowler he was 2 years ago, the over arching problem of this match is that all of India's bowlers, especially the spinners are far too costly when it comes to runs." - He was good in the IPL, until he wasn't, and RR just straight up dropped him
India heading for their third L in four games, with one washout, here... Iyer's reign has not been off to a solid start here, though he's done his best with bat in hand these past two T20Is! It's a tough game out here
Harshit back, he's given 20 off his two so far.
END OF OVER:17 | 29 Runs | ENG: 171/5 (20 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 10.05, RRR: 6.66)
- Jacob Bethell68 (43b)
- Sam Curran6 (3b)
- Ravi Bishnoi4-0-60-0
- Varun Chakravarthy4-0-37-1
Bishnoi clearly bowling sub-optimally because of the backfoot no-ball being at the back of his mind, methinks
Vikash: "Abhijato seems to have deliberately mentioned Archer before Dawson. Good rage baiting mate." - I do it for the love of the game
Sachit: "For a bowler to make the same mistake thrice in one game is unacceptable"
Vijay: "I dread the win probability. When it is so nicely in India's favour, a couple of boundaries, brings it down by a reasonably big margin."
Ibrahim Raza: "2 lefty vs Ravi Bishnoi will be the deciding Factor of the match"
ABHISHEK: "Bethell sure does take matches deep against India"
Himanshu: "He's the boy who smacks, not the boy who also bowls :)"
rohit: "some of the comments on cricinfo are so funny I love reading through the commentary, there should be an emoji button to react to these comments"