Hosts India have taken a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20I series against England after the Chennai T20I produced a thrilling finish, where Tilak Varma’s one-man show snatched a memorable win.

After the Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav chose to field first in the second T20I of the series at Chennai, England scored 165/9 in 20 overs. India chased down the target in 19.2 overs after losing eight wickets. 

Indian bowlers shined again; England batters disappointed

Once again the English openers fell cheaply. While Phil Salt lost his wicket in the first over to Arshdeep Singh after scoring four runs, his opening partner Ben Duckett (3) was dismissed by Washington Sundar on his first ball of the match.

Captain Jos Buttler once again produced a powerful start as England scored 58/2 at the end of the powerplay. Harry Brook (13) and Liam Livingstone (13) again failed while the T20I debutant Jamie Smith impressed in his short period of batting.

Buttler was dismissed in the 10th over, while Axar Patel took his wicket, who scored 45 off 30 balls with two fours and three sixes. 

Debutant Smith hit one four and two sixes and scored 22 off 12 balls before Abhishek Sharma got his wicket.

While England were struggling at 104/6, Brydon Carse batted incredibly to set a challenging total for the visitors. The second-highest scorer in the innings, Carse scored 31 off 17 balls with the help of one four and three sixes before a huge mix-up ran him out. Jofra Archer (12*), Adil Rashid (10), and Mark Wood (5*) had some useful contributions in the lower order. 

India used seven bowlers, where only Ravi Bishnoi didn’t pick a wicket but was very economical (4-0-27-0). Meanwhile, Axar Patel (2/32) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/38) took two wickets each. 

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Tilak Varma almost single-handedly chased the target

In chasing, incredible Tilak Varma almost single-handedly guided the hosts to a thrilling victory. While India were losing wickets at regular intervals, Varma held the crease strongly and was eyeing finishing the game. 

As the hosts were losing the wickets regularly, they were battling at 78/5 when Hardik Pandya was caught behind the wicket. After that wicket, Varma had a crucial 38-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Washington Sundar had some luck as he got a life after Adil Rashid dropped him at mid-on, and the left-handed batter soon used a free hit properly to bag a sixer. Before Brydon Carse bowled Sundar, he scored a valuable 26 off 19 balls with three fours and one six. 

The pressure was always on Varma, who completed his half-century in 39 balls, but he was batting calmly despite the falling of the wickets at the other end. 

When the ninth batter Ravi Bishnoi joined, India were 20 runs away from the win, and Arshdeep lost his wicket after a 20-run partnership with Varma. Bishnoi hit two useful boundaries, which brought down the pressure from Varma, and the 22-year-old left-handed batter Varma ended the game marvelously with a boundary. The Player of the Match Varma scored 72 not out off 55 balls, which will remain memorable for years. 

While all six English bowlers picked up at least one wicket, Brydon Carse was exceptional as he had the bowling figures of 4-0-29-3. On the other hand, Jofra Archer managed his worst T20I bowling figures with 4-0-60-1.