by England delivered a much-improved display but Tilak Varma’s Nerveless 72 failed to lift India to a two-goal victory and a 2-0 lead in their five-match T20 series in Chennai.
Blown away in Kolkata, England fared better in another Test by Spin as they posted 165 for nine, led by Jos Buttler’s 45 balls and cameos from Jamie Smith (22 off 12) and Brydon Carse (31 off 17 ).
Carse then took three for 29 as England’s battery of quick passes reduced India to 146 for eight, but Varma was immovable and used pace to his advantage to put India through with four balls to lose.
Varma collected five sixes, all behind Square, while the last of his four fours hit the covers of Jamie Overton left England in Chance’s final show as they look to score Brendon McCullum’s maiden series as an all-format head coach with one win.
Adil Rashid took one for 14 but his drop when Washington Sundar was on 10 allowed the all-rounder to collect 16 more runs, while fortune eluded Jofra Archer, who recorded T20 figures of 4-0-60- 1 and exhausted Carse just as he looked set to take England to a defendable total.
The score appeared slightly below the floor at midway as they lost six wickets to the slow bowlers, with the Indian pacemen unfolding and developing the innings and five spinners from the start of the fourth over without interruption at the end from the 17th.
After being asked to bat first, Phil Salt perished in the first over to Arshdeep Singh, collecting a shorter ball outside off and putting a pull ball in, but Buttler settled in with three shots from the left armour. , including a six-one.
Suryakumar Yadav responded by turning to Spin and was immediately rewarded when Ben Duckett edged past a reverse sweep to Jurel Dhruv, although Buttler and Brook did the attacking to take England to 58 for two at the close of play of power.
But like in Kolkata, Chakravarthy applied the brakes with a moment of magic. A well-disguised googly turned and snaked through the thinnest of gaps between bat and pad to kiss the top of Brook’s stump. The Yorkshireman, who blamed smog for contributing to his dismissal at Eden Gardens, could only smile in bemusement as he moved.
India’s spinners turned the screw and the pressure put on Buttler and Liam Livingstone, who couldn’t get enough altitude during the kitchen sink set-up at Axar Patel Downs.
Chakravarthy was taken the distance once by a school-bound Jamie Smith, made his T20 debut with Jacob Bethell Unell, and twice by Carse, who replaced Gus Atkinson, although further harm did for Jamie Overton .
While Smith went deep apart entirely from Abhishek Sharma and Carse was spent after a mix-up with Jofra Archer, England’s battering ram of fast bowlers had something to play for.
Abhishek was the match-winner on Wednesday but missed a heave to Mark Wood and was plumb LBW and while Archer was expensive, conceding 41 in his burst of three, he made his way with the wicket of Sanju Samson, who is to head Carse into the depths.
Varma used Archer’s pace against him twice and then claimed his third six behind Square Off Carse, who rebounded by cramping Yadav for place and bowling the India captain before Jurel bowled safely to a short midwicket.
There was pin-drop silence in the Ma Chidambaram Stadium when Overton struck with his first ball as Hardy Pandya faltered forward and edged ahead, although Adil Rashid’s regulation fall to Sundar on 10 looked costly when he bludgeoned the wood for three successive boundaries.
Carse had his third when he breached Sundar’s defenses and the momentum seemed to be with England when Axar fell into the trap set by Livingstone, Archer’s luckless evening continued as Varma heading Buttler for six before moving away for another maximum.
Varma was happy to see Rashid, taking just a point from the final leg final, then initially denied singles with Ravi Bishnoi for company when Carse completed his allotment. After finally returning the strike, Bishnoi collected four fours from Carse and Livingstone.
With six needed from the last over, Varma drove Overton’s second ball and departed in jubilant celebration.
