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25 January 2025, 17:17 GMT
Second T20, Chennai
England 165-9 (20 overs): Buttler 45 (30); Patel 2-32
India 166-8 (19.2 overs): Tilak 72* (55); Carse 3-29
India won by eight wickets; lead five-match series 2-0
Brydon Carse’s efforts with bat and ball were in vain as England suffered a two-wicket defeat to India in the second T20 international.
Asked to bat first again, England bettered their total from the first match of the series when they posted a competitive, if not particularly imposing,165-9 in Chennai.
Captain Jos Buttler top scored for England for the second match in succession as he struck a characteristically fluent 45 off 30 balls.
When Buttler holed out to deep mid-wicket off Axar Patel to leave England 77-4, India’s spinners threatened to cut England’s middle order apart.
However, Jamie Smith confidently hit 22 off 12 balls on his T20 international debut before Carse bludgeoned 31 off 17 to ensure the tourists posted a semi-competitive total.
Carse then spearheaded England’s efforts in the field by claiming 3-29 from his four overs, including the wicket of India captain Suryakumar Yadav, as India made hard work of the chase.
India teetered on 78-5 but Tilak Varma mixed aggressive strokeplay – hitting five sixes – with intelligent running between the wickets during a mature knock.
The left-hander came into the middle after the ninth ball of India’s innings and remained composed as he batted through for an unbeaten 72.
Tilak was on strike with India requiring six runs to win off the final over of the game, bowled by Jamie Overton, and duly got it done with four balls to spare by thwacking the England seamer’s second delivery through the covers for four.
More to follow.
Smith’s star rises but Salt struggles
Last summer Smith swaggered into England’s Test side like he always belonged , and his nascent rise into one of his country’s multi-format stars continued at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Handed his T20 international debut after all-rounder Jacob Bethell took ill, Smith looked utterly unfazed when he came to the crease despite the pressure of Buttler’s dismissal and being relatively inexperienced in subcontinental conditions.
He confidently hit spinner Varun Chakravarthy – who had earlier flummoxed Harry Brook with his leg breaks – for a majestic six down the ground off just his fourth delivery before another towering six off Abhishek Sharma.
The only blot was a touch of overconfidence for his dismissal, falling to Abhishek after striking back-to-back boundaries off the left-arm spinner.
Smith may well be asked to step down for the third T20 in Rajkot next Tuesday if Bethell is available but how long can Brendon McCullum and Buttler ignore him?
While Smith’s star is burning brightly, wicketkeeper Phil Salt’s has dimmed a little.
It was a disappointing day for the England opener, who has four single-figure scores in his last five T20 innings for England and rather carelessly gave his wicket away.
Salt hooked an early short ball from Arshdeep Singh, dragging it across the line from outside off stump, to leave Washington Sundar with a simple catch down at square leg.
Left armers have dismissed him in all of those four low scores.
He fell twice to West Indies left arm spinner Akeal Hosein during England’s tour of the Caribbean in December and left-arm seamer Arshdeep has snaffled his wicket twice in this series.
Salt will hope this an anomaly rather than a weakness to preyed upon. He has more than enough credit in the bank for his place in the side to be questioned just yet.
