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Chasing 172, India managed 145/9 in Rajkot allowing England to keep the five-match T20I series alive.
Tilak Varma misses and gets bowled by Adil Rashid. (AP Photo)
For the second time in three T20Is, Varun Chakaravarthy produced player-of-the-match award winning performance for India in the ongoing series against England. The first award came in a winning cause but the second, on Tuesday night in Rajkot, came in a defeat as his five-wicket haul went in vain with England winning by 26 runs to keep the series alive.
For the third time in a row, India won the toss and decided to bowl first. However, their run of two successive successful chases ended in the third T20I. England posted a competitive total of 171/9 and in reply, India were limited to 145/9.
Barring Hardik Pandya (40 off 35), no other Indian batter made a significant contribution with the likes of Abhishek Sharma (24 off 14), Tilak Varma (18 off 14) and captain Suryakumar Yadav (14 off 7) not converting promising starts.
On the other hand, England’s innings was powered by a quickfire half-century from opener Ben Duckett who made 51 off 28 while Liam Livingstone struck 43 off 24.
Chakaravarthy felt that the pitch got slower during India’s chase which meant their batters struggled to get going. Adil Rashid produced an economical spell of four overs in which he allowed just 15 runs and accounted for the big wicket of Tilak.
“What I observed was the pitch definitely got slower in the second innings,” the legspinner said during a post-match interaction with the media. “We thought that there might be dew which might set in, but the dew didn’t set in. So that definitely played in their favour and obviously Adil Rashid is a legend, and he knows how to bowl. He has that control over his speed.”
So did Indian erred by not batting first?
“Don’t think the toss went against us because we have that’s what we have done the last two matches, and we won and that’s the nature of the game,” Chakaravarthy said. “Last match also went close. We could have ended up losing and this match we could have ended up winning. So that’s the nature of the game. And T20 is supposed to be aggressive. You can’t complain much, and it is a very result-oriented game. So, I can get what you’re trying to say. But this is how they have decided to play, and this is the brand of cricket what Indian team wants to play and they’re doing it well.”
India brought in Mohammed Shami for the fixture in place of Arshdeep Singh. The right-arm pacer thus made his international return after a gap of over a year, bowling three wicketless overs for 25 runs.
Chakaravarthy evaded the query over the reason behind the team changing the winning combination.
“I’m not sure because the team is decided by the thinktank. So, I’m not involved in that and really not sure what was the thinking (behind the change),” he said.
Chakaravarthy has 10 wickets from three matches of the ongoing series. The 33-year-old says his focus is on maintaining consistency in line and length.
“Nothing new (he has done with his training), but the work doesn’t stop because consistency is a constant work, as in even if I can bowl a stock ball, I need to keep working on it, keep pushing it. I need to get 9/10 consistency. That work is always there. So right now, my focus is on consistency and line and length,” he said.
- Location :
Rajkot, India, India
