India suffered their biggest defeat in T20Is in terms of runs as England hammered them by 125 runs in the third T20I at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. In pursuit of England’s 201/7, India failed to read the fine line between ultra-aggression and recklessness as they were bundled out for 76 in 11.4 overs.
Following this defeat, India’s chances of winning the series are no longer there as England lead 2-0 with two more games remaining.
The Trent Bridge pitch was certainly quite good for batting, but it also had a wee bit in it for the bowlers if they pitched the ball in the right areas and hit the hard lengths. For India, Prince Yadav did that quite well, finishing with 2/30 in his four overs with the wickets of Jos Buttler and skipper Harry Brook.
But what also made some difference in the game was Phil Salt’s innings (70 off 44 balls). Salt started slow and sluggish, lost his senior opening partner Buttler quite against the run of play and Brook soon after.
However, Salt gave himself the time he needed to settle down and once he was set, the strokes began to flow from his bat. What also complemented Salt was the solidity of all-rounder Sam Curran (41 not out off 24 balls).
Someone in the Indian batting line-up needed to play the role of Salt during the run chase.
Instead, the Indians tried to dispatch almost everything out of the ground and were undone by the extra pace of Archer, while Josh Tongue too had a field day.
The game was practically over for India when they had slipped to 52/5 in five overs. Retaining his place in the XI, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi began well again with a couple of maximums off Archer and Tongue. That, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni watching, who was spotted at the ground celebrating his 45th birthday.
But, a fast, well-directed short-pitched delivery from Archer had Sooryavanshi caught behind. Unfortunately for India, their more experienced batters like Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and captain Shreyas Iyer perished at the deep, trying to be over-aggressive too early.
The extra pace of Archer undid Axar Patel, while Tongue’s length had the better of all-rounder Shivam Dube. India were simply annihilated.