Jacob Bethell’s unbeaten half-century (76* off 46) guided England to a four-wicket win over India and take a 1-0 lead in the second T20I at Old Trafford in Manchester on Saturday.
The afternoon began with anticipation over a 15-year-old Indian’s debut and ended with a 22-year-old talented Englishman’s swift counter-offensive that gave the host a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
The chase could not have started on a worse note for the hosts, as Phil Salt and Jos Buttler were snapped up by Arshdeep Singh.
However, to his horror, skipper Harry Brook (39 off 15 balls) was brutal on the seasoned seamer, smashing him for 27 runs, which included three sixes and two boundaries.
While Axar Patel (1/19 in 4 overs) had Brook caught down the leg side by Ishan Kishan, the England skipper had already set the platform for the counter-offensive.
Bethell was then joined by Tom Banton (39 off 32 balls), and the duo handled the Indian spinners with relative ease during their 67-run stand for the fourth wicket.
It also helped that India’s spinners Ravi Bishnoi (0/60 in 4 overs) and Varun Chakravarthy (1/37 in 4 overs) did not match the English spinners, who were slower through the air and off the pitch. Only Axar Patel held his own.
Bishnoi and Chakravarthy bowled flat and quick on a skiddy surface, which made it easier for both Bethell and Banton to rock back and execute their shots. However, Chakravarthy did redeem himself in the final over when he removed Will Jacks which turned out to be an important moment in the game.
However skipper Shreyas Iyer’s tactical move to bring in Arshdeep in the 13th over for his second spell, worked wonders as Banton picked the fielder at deep extra cover to bring India back in the game. But Bishnoi’s over dashed all hopes of a win.
Earlier, Tilak Varma’s last-over heroics ensured a decent 190 for 7 for India after Iyer opted to bat first.
Tilak (24* off 11 balls), whose batting approach has been heavily criticised, smashed Jofra Archer (1/40 in 4 overs) for 17 in the 20th over to take India to a respectable total even though it might have slightly below the par score of 200.
The extra bounce and cross winds on a skiddy surface did make batting difficult as the world saw the first glimpse of a 15-year-old debutant, who broke Sachin Tendulkar’s nearly 37-year-old record, at international stage.
However, his stay was restricted to 10 balls in which he collected two sixes and a couple of singles to manage 14 before being stumped by Jos Buttler off off-spinner Will Jacks.
Abhishek Sharma (43 off 24 balls), skipper Shreyas Iyer (37 off 22 balls) and Ishan Kishan (49 off 43 balls) all scored some runs but only looked comfortable in patches with England bowlers mixing it up quite nicely.
Kishan, in particular, was exceptionally scratchy, failing to pick the slower deliveries and altered length ones bowled by the spinners.
While Archer’s sheer pace and the bounce extracted off the surface had Abhishek in all sorts of trouble at the onset, it was seamer Sam Curran’s (3/33 in 4 overs) pace-off strategy and assortment of slower variations that made life difficult for Indian batters post power play.
Jacks (1/22 in 3 overs) and left-arm spinner Liam Dawson (1/27 in 3 overs) ended with good figures. Even Adil Rashid (0/21 in 2 overs) wasn’t exactly taken to the cleaners as boundaries were hard to come by.
In his first 12 balls, Abhishek played and missed around 10 of them. Archer cranked it up to 90 miles per hour, pitching it on hard length and got it to deviate away.
At the other end, even Sooryavanshi struggled to cope with the extra bounce but got a six each- first when Archer tried to cramp him for room and the left-hander played a no-look whip-scoop behind for a six.
ALSO READ:Who are the youngest players to debut in men’s internationals?
The shot against Josh Tongue was a more familiar IPL type hoick over long-on. However, England skipper Harry Brook rightly introduced Jacks and he bowled a wide loopy off-break which Sooryavanshi jumped out and missed by a feet and half to get stumped.
Abhishek, after an initial play and miss phase, got his mojo back against bowlers with comparatively lesser pace than Archer.
It was still hitting through the line that got him to 43 as he played the field admirably, targeting the shorter side. He should be cursing his luck when his snap flick off a Curran full-toss went straight to Tom Banton stationed at least 15 metres inside the mid-wicket boundary.
Iyer and Kishan added 65 for the third wicket but even their biggest supporters won’t claim that they could dominate the England attack during those middle overs.
Iyer, though, was a bit better trying to use his feet but the bigger dimensions of the Old Trafford ground made boundary scoring difficult.
Published on Jul 04, 2026
