The 5th T20: Icing On The Cake
Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
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By Slogger
First publised on 2021-03-22 11:09:54
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Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
View all posts by this Author
The final match of the see-saw T20 series between the two top teams in the world in this format was the icing on the cake. The high scoring match provided players from both teams to showcase their talents and prove why they are considered the best.
When India batted, the new opening pair of the redoubtable Rohit Sharma and the reliable Virat Kohli showed that they can turn out to be one of the most explosive and dangerous opening pairs in the world in this format. While Kohli clearly came out with the intention of occupying the crease (as India had been losing too many wickets in the power play overs recently) Sharma made his intentions clear by going after the bowlers from the word go. It helped that the pitch was flat but, for once, there were no unforced errors on part of the Indians. Suryakumar Yadav showed in a cameo why he is considered one of the most explosive batsmen in this format and is winning new fans among experts every day. His clean hitting was a pleasure to watch. So was the catch taken to dismiss him, when Jordan plucked a one-handed beauty at the boundary line and threw it to Jason Roy just before his foot could touch the line. Absolutely stunning. England were brilliant in the field despite the Indians taking their bowlers to the cleaners.
In the end, the way Kohli stepped on the gas and the way Hardik Pandya hit even good balls for fours and sixes, it was clear it was not Englandâs day. Kohli, especially, gave a lesson in holding fort at one end, rotating the strike and pacing the innings. His 80 not out in 52 balls was a great innings. He deservedly won the player of the series award.
When England batted, Dawid Malan showed why he is the number one player in this format. Anything short was pulled with vengeance and anything up was either driven forcefully in the gaps or lifted out of the ground. He was toying with the Indian bowlers after Bhubhaneshwar Kumar bowled the dangerous Jason Roy in the first over. With Malan and Buttler in full flow, it was looking as if the match was slipping out of India's hands as they never let the England run rate go below 10. But Kumar returned for the 13th over and removed Buttler. That changed the match completely and the run rate slowly went out of England's reach. They lost wickets at regular intervals to lose the match by 36 runs. Kumar was the pick of Indian bowlers.
