England fell to their heaviest T20I defeat, all out in 10.3 overs, but boy were there some laughs along the way. (You’re still thinking about the bad news, aren’t you?)
There were gasps, too, at the chutzpah of Abhishek Sharma, whose 135 off 54 balls astonished all-comers. He faced almost as many balls as England, and scored plenty more runs. “At one point I was thinking I don’t want to be the team that concedes 300 for the first time,” Jos Buttler, the England captain, said. “We were really outplayed. Credit to Abhishek Sharma. That was one of the best T20 knocks I’ve been on the receiving end of.”
The facts are that England’s defeat by India at the 2012 World T20 had represented their shortest completed innings in the format (14.4 overs) and largest margin of defeat (90 runs). Other facts are that Shivam Dube had recovered from requiring a controversial concussion substitute on Friday to be available on Sunday; that Dube bowled; and that Dube took two wickets. The high priests of humour knew who they favoured.
Brendon McCullum’s first series as white-ball head coach is over. It began with a seven-wicket defeat inside 13 overs, and ended with this. In between, England were competitive: they took India to the final over of their chase in Chennai, won in Rajkot and were on top for much of the Pune fixture, only to lose their way with the bat.
The batting has been the sharpest concern, especially in trying to deal with India’s spinners. Four players made fifties but none could compile a killer score. All of the bowlers had their moments, and England stuck with four pacemen. Jofra Archer played all five matches; Mark Wood sat one out.
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McCullum warned that the team would veer off the road at times, and this was one such example. The last batsmen departed in a morass, at that stage of a match where blocking achieves little. “I’ve played in a few games like this and it generally goes one of two ways: you either get somewhere near or you fall in a heap and today was that day,” Buttler said.
Neither Dube nor any half-time substitute won this for India. The star was young Abhishek, a captivating strokemaker. Limited to cameos since his match-winning 79 off 34 at Eden Gardens, here at Wankhede Stadium the 24-year-old blasted 13 sixes. He bowls left-arm spin too, taking two wickets.
Abhishek reached his fifty in 17 balls, second among Indian batsmen only to Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball effort on the night he took Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, and turned it into a 37-ball century — again, India’s second-fastest. Five England players congratulated him as he consumed the adulation of the crowd.
This was typical of Abhishek, ever since he made his way through the Punjab age grades with Shubman Gill and Arshdeep Singh. After establishing a destructive opening partnership in the IPL with Travis Head, dubbed “Travishek”, he made his India debut on July 6 last year and on July 7 he blasted a 47-ball hundred against Zimbabwe. Representing Punjab in December, he hit a 28-ball century in T20 and 170 off 96 balls in a 50-over match.
Insofar as it is possible to collapse to 247 for nine in a T20, India did that. They were 95 for one at the end of the powerplay, the most they have taken from the first six overs, and 143 for two at halfway. Brydon Carse and Wood, back in the XI and again topping 95mph, escaped the harshest punishment in the final analysis and shared five wickets.
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It was a day for dignitaries. Was it more surprising to see on the outfield the Duke of Edinburgh, Rishi Sunak or Dube? Prince Edward was knocking about, so too the former prime minister (who better to offer advice on continuing a campaign that has already been lost?). Hit out to get out was the result.
The availability of Dube was unexpected. India had won the war and now they were taking the peace. Dube required a concussion substitute two days earlier, to English chagrin, yielding to an unlike-for-unlike fast bowler in Harshit Rana, and yet somewhere along the four-hour bus ride from Pune to Mumbai, he was deemed fit to play. Those who read concussion guidelines will query the speed of return out of safety.
India missed out on opportunities to humorously rub that episode in England’s noses. They could have listed Harshit at No6 in their XI. They could have handed the new ball to Dube. The jokes were left to Buttler, mentioning the four unused squad members as his “impact substitutes” at the toss. It may have been the tourists’ last laugh of the night.
Phil Salt was a one-man band in the chase, falling shortly after completing a 21-ball fifty. “We certainly won’t change the way we want to play, we need to keep backing that, be even more committed and be desperate to do well and execute that,” Buttler said. “We want to be aggressive, putting pressure on the opposition, and being proactive. I’d rather if we’re going to fall, fall on the proactive side.”
India did realise one opportunity for humour, at last bringing Dube into the attack for his 10th and 11th overs in T20Is since June 2024. With a wide, 73mph ball he dismissed Salt caught behind. It’s good, but it’s not quite Harshit.
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India have won 37 of their past 42 completed T20Is. For 50-over affairs, they will have Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav back, and possibly Jasprit Bumrah for the final match. They are pretty good at this white-ball malarkey without them.
