Improved performance but same outcome leaves England on the brink

It left Brendon McCullum still seeking his first win as England white-ball coach, the only positive being that it was a much closer match than it had been on Wednesday, a small crumb of comfort.

No doubt England will go “even harder” in Rajkot on Tuesday, where defeat would see them lose the series at the earliest opportunity, thereby following in the footsteps of their female counterparts currently in action – of a fashion, anyway – in Australia.

Twenty20 is a game of fine margins, and there will be moments that England will rue from this match.

Perhaps most notably, a dropped catch by Adil Rashid at a key juncture when India were 96-5 in the 13th over, looking to overhaul England’s 165-9.

Washington Sundar chipped a ball from Mark Wood to mid-on, where Rashid spilled an opportunity that should have been taken, the ball slipping from his grasp as he moved to his right.

Sundar followed up by hammering Wood for 6, 4, 4 before the over was finished, a pivotal little passage.

On the flip side, Rashid bowled superbly, conceding just 14 runs from his four overs and taking a wicket with his final ball when Arshdeep Singh played one of the many poor shots seen across the match, skying the ball to backward square-leg.

After no one managed a match-defining contribution with the bat for England, Buttler top-scoring with 45 from 30 balls, Varma did exactly that for the hosts, thereby following in the footsteps of 24-year-old left-hander Abhishek Singh, who top-scored with 79 in the triumph on Wednesday.

Abhishek managed only 12 this time, clubbing three fours in the first over of the chase, bowled by Jofra Archer.

Archer leaked 60 from his four overs including 11 boundaries, although he was unlucky at times.

By common consent (or at least according to “Cooky” and “Finny” in the TNT Sports studio, alongside Kate Mason), England left a good 20 runs out there, not helped by a number of soft dismissals.

Phil Salt set the tone when he lofted the fourth ball of the game into the hands of backward square-leg, having clipped the opening delivery of the contest to the mid-wicket boundary.

Salt is feast or famine in T20 at present, his last six innings for England in the format being 103 not out, 0, 4, 55, 0, 4.

Ben Duckett, his opening partner, also fell cheaply, reverse-sweeping Sundar to point to leave England 26-2 at the start of the fourth.

Neither opener has contributed thus far, or has indeed looked like so doing, creating pressure on the rest of the top order.

At least Buttler does look in fine touch, still a remarkable cricketer after all these years.

The apparently forced smile is becoming wearing, though, amid all the talk going into the series concerning his demeanour, and it will become grating in the extreme should a whitewash ensue.

Buttler thumped three meaty sixes before also falling tamely on the leg-side boundary; at least he didn’t walk off grinning like the Cheshire Cat and punching the air in delight.

Harry Brook was bowled through the gate by Varun Chakravarthy, a leg-spinner who does not seem to bowl leg-breaks so much as top-spinners with a hint of the wrong ‘un about them, deliveries which zone in on the stumps more often than not.

Liam Livingstone also holed out in disappointing manner on the leg-side boundary, as did Jamie Smith at long-off after a promising cameo, the Surrey man handed his T20 international debut in place of the ill Jacob Bethell.

Overton was bowled by a googly, and England were indebted to a useful little innings from Carse, the other change to the side in place of Gus Atkinson.

Carse used all of his power but showed a deftness too to work around the spinners, striking 31 from 17 balls with three sixes and a four before he was run-out following a mix-up with Archer.

Rashid chipped in with 10 as 44 runs came in the last three overs, at least giving England’s bowlers something to work with.

India – who also showed two changes, with Sundar and Dhruv Jurel replacing the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rinku Singh – batted no better than their opponents with the exception of Varma.

Archer and Wood made early inroads, then Carse got to work with a three-wicket intervention in a fine all-round match.

Wickets tumbled with sufficient regularity to keep England interested, and, at one point, they might even have worked themselves into the position of very slight favourites.

But Varma held his nerve and that was it.

A case of same old, same old from England’s point of view.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​