Paytm T20 Series 
England VS India 

2nd Match Played at Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera, Ahmedabad on 14 March 2021 

England 164/6 (Jason Roy 46, Eoin Morgan 28, David Malan 24, Ben Stokes 24, Jonny Bairstow 20, Washington Sundar 2/29, Shardul Thakur 2/29)

India Won By 7 Wickets 
Series Position Stands 1-1 

Player Of The Match: Ishan Kishan

Same venue , different wicket at Narendra Modi Stadium. England blew away India in the first match on a grassy bouncy wicket in the first match. Today on a slightly different wicket ball gripped a bit. England bowlers changing pace smartly fooled one-track English batting. England was restricted to a gettable score of 164/6. Rookie Ishan Kishan (56) produced a blinder. King Kohli (73*) displaying in his royal style took India across. Scoring 173/3 India won the match with 13 balls to spare. Number one and number two teams are now locked 1-1 after two matches of the five matches series. 

Off late It has become a trend that India looses the first match and looses badly in a series. They size up the opponents, adjusts the strategy drawing on their varied vast resources of young talents. India bounces back and corners their opponent. Exactly that happened yesterday as well.
India made two changes today. Resting Dhawan they brought in Ishan Kishan and dropping spinner Akshar  Patel they gave Surjakumar Yadav the first Indian cap. Ishan got it as well. A few people including Virendra Shewag criticized Kohli’s strategy of resting inform Indian opener Rohit Sharma for the first two T20s. Today he rested Dhawan as well gambling with Ishan Kishan. When India is looking for right combination of masters and youth for the ensuing T20 world cup that is in a way smart throwing young guns early against strong opposition. Luckily it worked today for Kohli. Ishan playing fearless carefree cricket produced a glittering 56 of 32 deliveries. He himself was under scan scoring few ducks also. He played his masterly match defining unbeaten Innings of 73. With Rahul failing back to back Rohit would return from match three.

Kohli mentioned after losing the first match that they read the wicket wrong . Today it was perhaps England read the wicket wrong . Put in to bat all English big hitters tried to blast Indian attack without getting feel of the wicket . The ball was gripping and all Indian bowlers bowled smartly changing their paces . English lions were caught in the trap. As may as five batsmen Roy (46) , Morgan ( 28) , Malan (24) ,Stokes ( 24) and Bairstow (20) . But none could make it big to produce a challenging score for England. At the end they fell at least 20 runs short of what could be a competitive score. All Indian bowlers bowled smartly. But Sundar (2/29), Shardul (2/29) and Bhubaneswar ( 1/28 ) were outstanding.

India lost Rahul early. But King Kohli a bit short of runs off late was desperate to redeem today. He looked silky from the outset. On the other hand debutant Ishan Kishan was given open license to play his natural strokes. English bowlers bowled fast and furious in the first match. But even after sensing the wicket when India bowled none of the English bowlers could change the pace adjusting to the wicket. Ishan savaged the attack and Kohli after settling murdered English attack with his masterly stroke play. India cruised over English Channel winning big by 7 wickets. Kohli scored unbeaten 73 in 49 deliveries striking 5 fours and 3 sixes. 32 balls 56 runs of flamboyant debutant Ishan Kishan contained 5 fours and 4 sixes.

One must admire the quality of Indian resources. Young batsmen and bowlers (pace and spin) are flowing in torrents. Prince of Kolkata rightly said Indian Wall Rahul Dravid has really developed Ocean of Talents for Indian Cricket. 

BDST:  0001 HRS, MAR 15, 2021
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