England levelled the series with a 5 wicket win over India in the 2nd T20I match played at Sophia Garden’s, Cardiff played just few moments ago. Winning the toss, England captain Eoin Morgan bowled first and restricted India to just 148. Chasing this target, good contributions helped the hosts to win an important match.
England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to field first. India got off to a worst possible losing an early wicket of Rohit Sharma for 6. Shikhar Dhawan and last match centurion KL Rahul went cheaply to leave India in big trouble at 22 for 3. At the end of 6 overs, India scored 31 for 3.
After the power play overs, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli steadied the innings with an important 57 runs stand for the 4th wicket. Adil Rashid dismissed Suresh Raina for 27. The Indian captain Virat Kohli took singles and hit bad balls away for boundaries. When things were looking good, David Willey dismissed Kohli for 47 off 38 balls. MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya added 37 unbeaten runs for the 6th wicket. In the last over both Indian batsmen smashed 22 runs off Jake Ball over. Dhoni in his 500th international match played an important knock remaining not out on 32 off 24 balls.
India posted 148 for 5 in 20 overs. For England, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid were economical. Jake Ball making his debut went for 44 runs in his 4 overs.
Chasing 149 to win, Umesh Yadav dismissed Jason Roy cheaply for 15 and then got the big wicket of Jos Buttler for 14. At the end of 6 overs, England scored 42 for 2. After the power play overs, Yuzvendra Chahal got the important wicket of Joe Root.
The England captain Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales played the Indian spinners well. Both of them added 48 runs for the 4th wicket before Hardik Pandya dismissed Eoin Morgan for 17. Hales and Jonny Bairstow put up another excellent partnership for the 5th wicket adding 34 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a great 18th over picking up a wicket and giving away 2 runs.
With 20 runs required off 2 overs, Umesh Yadav gave away 8 runs. Alex Hales reached his half-century off 39 balls. England won the match by 5 wickets with 2 balls to spare.
England 149 for 5 in 19.4 overs ( Alex Hales 58*, Jonny Bairstow 28, Umesh Yadav 2/38, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/19) beat
India 148 for 5 in 20 overs ( Virat Kohli 47, MS Dhoni 32, Liam Plunkett 1/17, David Willey 1/18) by 5 wickets.
Indian captain Virat Kohli said: Losing 3 wickets in the first 6 overs made the difference. England made good use of the bounce. The England batsmen played Kuldeep Yadav really well. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav were brilliant but could not finish the job. We need to focus on the 3rd game.
England captain Eoin Morgan said: The way we come back after the loss at Old Trafford was great. Jake Ball and David Willey did a great job to pick early wickets. Alex Hales was superb today. We need to continue the momentum in the decider.
Man of the match Alex Hales said: Very important knock to stay in the series. I have never faced Kuldeep Yadav. Our bowlers did a brilliant job to restrict India. Hope to see a cracking contest in the deciding match at Bristol.
The series is level at 1-1 and deciding match would be played at Bristol on 8th July.
