T20I series: Pune promises an even contest as England find bearings

The ongoing T20I series between India and England is now promising to be a closer affair than one thought. After the visitors were found wanting in the first game at Eden Gardens, they were up for a fight in Chennai before Adil Rashid & Co. choked India during their chase at Rajkot to keep the series alive.

The five-match series is now nicely poised at 2-1 as conditions at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune are known to offer an even playing field for batters as well as bowlers. A look at the track record shows that of the four T20Is played there, teams batting first as well as chasing have won twice apiece, though one hopes that the dew does not skew the balance in favour of the chasing team.

In all three matches so far, Gautam Gambhir has been quite unapologetic about the world champions going spin-heavy, with Hardik Pandya acting as the second seamer along with either Arshdeep Singh or Mohammed Shami. In Rajkot, as many as five spinners were used but barring the five-star Varun Chakravarthy whom the rival batters have been finding difficult to read, they were not as effective, with young leggie Ravi Bishnoi being carted around for 46 runs from four overs.

A case for both Shami-Arshdeep?

Given that the Pune track is known to offer some juice early on, is it time for the think tank to play both comeback man Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep? The England pace bowling line-up, after all, has looked far more potent, with hulk Brydon Carse providing the X-factor at different stages of the innings.

Indian TV pundits, meanwhile, were harsh on Pandya as he tried to take things deep with an innings of 40 off 35 deliveries with a modest strike rate of 114.29. It’s true that he played far too many dot balls, but the top order batters, including captain Suryakumar Yadav, had been getting out in a cavalier fashion against a quality bowling line-up. 

Chakravarthy, who will certainly be weighing heavy on the minds of rival batters in the next two games, came out in defense of the batters. ‘’T20 is supposed to be an aggressive game and you cannot complain much,’’ said the Player of the Match in Rajkot.

Tilak Varma, meanwhile, is developing himself as the no. 3 to watch out for in India’s future campaigns in this format. Despite being a newcomer in international cricket, the Hyderabad batter has shown the maturity to find a way to get the scorecard going when the bowling is tight, while he is also blessed with the big shots.

The England camp will be worried about the form of opener Jamie Smith as well as Harry Brook, who did not put a foot wrong in the last year. Brook, who is averaging 12.66 in the series, was one of six England batters in their top nine who was dismissed for single figures.

Brendon McCullum, now at the helm of all formats, must be keeping a count that his team has now lost 18 wickets to turning deliveries in this series. It’s a record for England in T20 series, beating the 14 they twice lost to New Zealand in 2019 and 2023.

Catch the match

India vs England

Fourth T20I, Pune, 31 January, Thursday

Start: 7.00 pm IST