England team was outplayed by the Indian team in an 8-wicket defeat in the first T20I against India in Manchester, with chinaman Kuldeep Yadav picking up five wickets. But in the 2nd T20I, England managed to level the series by smashing Kuldeep for 34 runs without giving away a wicket in his spell of four overs. After the hosts picked up a five-wicket win to level the series, skipper Eoin Morgan said the bouncy and quicker tracks in Cardiff did not suit Yadav’s style of bowling.
Talking about the same, Morgan said, “Conditions were different today. Kuldeep’s a very good bowler and he’ll bowl well the majority of the time. But I thought conditions at Old Trafford suited him more than conditions today. With the pace and bounce of the wicket that the seamers might have dominated a bit more, but I thought our plans were a lot clearer. We played him well.”
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Morgan further went on to praise Alex Hales, who became the highest scorer in the match, as he scored an unbeaten-58 in 41 balls. he said, “Alex really did play brilliantly. He’s played a lot of T20 International cricket, and he’s obviously played a lot around the world and he certainly used that tonight. Having the composure to play quite a mature innings, as he did, and then towards the end, he’s not known as a big hitter but anybody who watched the game at Trent Bridge will realize he hits the ball quite a long way, even yorkers. We had quite a lot of confidence in him, but it is very nice to get over the line.”
England won the match with two balls to spare, but Morgan stressed that his team could have finished the game earlier if they had built a strong partnership. He also accepted the fact that they had a lot of clarity in their shots in the second T20I.
Praising his team’s bowling effort, the hosts’ skipper said, “I thought they bowled brilliantly. David Willey set the tone. Jake Ball on his debut bowled three really good overs. When there’s bounce like that it always presents opportunities to take wickets, or at least have chances. They did that well, and obviously, Adil (Rashid) bowled well too.”
India and England will play the final T20I on Sunday, with the series leveled at 1-1.
