Chennai, Jan 25 (UNI) Despite a superb cameo by skipper Jos Butler, Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, strangulated the England batting line up restricting them to 165 for nine in the second T-20 match at the M A Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday night.
After losing early wickets, Jos Butler kept scoring with his usual fluency, but wickets fell at regular intervals.
It looks like a decent score. But with the wicket offering some assistance for the spinners, England will be keen to fancy its chances to restrict the formidable Indian batting line up.
Everytime, when it appeared that a partnership appears to be building, the Indian bowlers struck, though England, despite losing wickets, kept the run rate at 8 to 8.5 runs per over, right through the innings.
A total of seven bowlers, including five spinners were used and all but leggie Ravi Bishnoi were among the wickets.
Varun Chakravarthy and the lanky left arm spinner Axar Patel claimed two wickets apiece, while offie Washington Sundar and another spinner Abhishek Sharma and pacers left armer Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya bagged a wicket each.
England once again got off to a bad start losing three wickets in quick succession, despite an unperturbed skipper Jos Butler bludgeoning the bowlers with a flurry of fours and sixers, as the visitors reached 58 for 2 (four fours and four sixers) in the power play.
The skipper, who made most of the fielding restrictions in the power play, alone scored 37 of those runs in just 20 balls with 2 fours and three sixers.
Asked to bat first, England lost opener Phil Salt in the first over after he started the innings with a boundary. But two balls later, he was dismissed by India’s leading T20 wicket taker, left arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, who dismissed him for the second time in the series,when he holed out to Washington Sundar, who caused further dent removing Ben Duckett (3) of his first ball in the fourth over (the only one he bowled in the innings), as he inside edged a reverse sweep on to his pads and the ball ballooned to Dhruv Jurel at square leg who took a simple catch.
India used five bowlers, including three spinners in the power play, but Butler, who in the process scored his 150th six of his T20 career, continued to find boundaries with ease.
Like in Kolkata, where he scored a quickfire half century, the skipper once again looked solid and threatened to take away the contest from India, when last match hero spinner Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Harry Brook (13, 8 balls, 1×4, 1×6)–bowled through the gate in his first over, the seventh of the innings.
England were in further trouble when Butler departed. His same attacking instinct resulted in his downfall as he hit left arm spinner Axar Patel straight down to the throat of Tilak Varma at deep midwicket in the 10th over as the visitors reached 78 for four at the half-way stage.
Butler scored 45 in 30 balls with two fours and three sixers.
Liam Livingstone (13, 14 balls, 1×4) and debutant Jamie Smith (22, 12 balls, 1×4, 2×6) started promisingly but found the fielders at the deep as the Indian spinners kept chipping away, reducing England to 104 for six in the 13th over.
The South African born pacer Brydon Carse too promised much with a fine 17-ball 31 (1×4, 3×6), but the bowlers contied to apply the brakes as England added 44 runs in the last five overs.
In all India used its spinners for 14 overs today, which is the joint second-most they have in a T20I.
Following is the scoreboard :
England :
Phil Salt c Washington Sundar b Arshdeep 4
Ben Duckett c Dhruv Jurel b Washington Sundar 3
Jos Butler c Tilak Varma b Axar Patel 45
Harry Brook b Varun Chakravarthy 13
Liam Livingstone csub (Harshit Rana) b Axar Patel 13
Jamie Smith c Tilak Varma b Abhishek Sharma 22
Jamie Overton b Varun Chakravarthy 5
Brydon Chase (run out) 31
Jofra Archer (not out) 12
Adil Rashid c Sanju Samson b Hardik Pandya 10
Mark Wood (not out) 5
Extras : (Lb-1, W-1) 2
Total :165 for nine in 20 overs.
Fall of wickets : 1-5, 2-26, 3-59, 4-77, 5-90, 6-104, 7-136, 8-137, 9-157.
India bowling :
Arshdeep Singh 4-0-40-1
Hardik Pandya 2-0-6-1
Washington Sundar 1-0-9-1
Axar Patel 4-0-32-2
Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-27-0
Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-38-2
Abhishek Sharma 1-0-12-1
