Tilak Varma drags India to narrow T20 win over England

Tilak Varma has played a lone hand in shepherding India across the finish line against England with an unbeaten 72 off 55 balls in the second Twenty20 international.

Varma’s third T20 half-century rescued India from 5-78 in the 10th over and helped them chase down the target of 166 to prevail by two wickets with four balls remaining on Saturday.

Varma proved the hero, sealing the win with two off the first ball and a boundary off the second in the final over, ending a game that England had earlier seemed to have in their grip.

His coolness enabled India to reach 8-166 and get past the visitors’ 9-165, pushing them into a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

India opted to bowl first again, with both sides making a couple of changes, the hosts bringing in Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar for the injured Nitish Reddy and Rinku Singh, while England recalled Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse for Jacob Bethell and Gus Atkinson.

In a much closer match than the first, India’s top order were rattled by pace as they tried to increase their series lead. Mark Wood trapped Abhishek Sharma for 12, and Jofra Archer dismissed Sanju Samson while trying to pull.

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav hit three fours but Brydon Carse bowled him in the sixth over.

Two overs later, Carse removed Jurel as well, for four, and the score became 5-78 when Hardik Pandya was caught on seven off Jamie Overton.

Varma kept India alive in a 38-run partnership with Washington Sundar, who was Carse’s third wicket in the 14th over.

Two wickets fell to spin, including Axar Patel, as England regained momentum.

But Varma attacked Archer in his final over and found late support from No.10 batter Ravi Bishnoi, who stuck around for 14 balls and even hit two crucial boundaries for nine not out.

England gave spinner Liam Livingstone the penultimate over, with 13 needed off 12 balls, and Bishnoi’s boundary helped as seven came off the over before Varma’s final-over heroics.

Earlier, England’s batting struggled to get going against India’s spin.

Opener Phil Salt fell cheaply again to Arshdeep Singh, with spin introduced early into the attack.

The spinners shared six wickets, with mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy again leading the way with 2-38 from four overs.

Captain Jos Buttler held the innings together again with a 30-ball 45. He struck two fours and three sixes, putting on 33 off 20 balls with Harry Brook.

But Brook struggled against Chakravarthy again, and was bowled in the seventh over.

The turning point came in the 10th over when Buttler was caught off Axar Patel. The left-arm spinner took 2-32 in four overs, also dismissing Livingstone for 13.

England lost their last seven wickets for 98, albeit managing a better batting performance than in the first T20 as Carse’s 31 off 17 balls, including three sixes, pushed them past 150.

Rajkot will host the third T20 on Tuesday.