After winning the toss, India were asked to bat first against a super confident England side. India started off their innings pretty well with KL Rahul firing from the start with a little help from Rohit Sharma but the latter was dismissed on the first ball of the fifth over., while Rahul himself was dismissed in just the previous over for 22 runs off 12 balls. Post that, the English bowlers faced some fire from the Indian middle-order but contained them soon after Virat Kohli’s wicket. Finally, in the end, India were able to post a total of 160/7 after 20 overs. 

In reciprocation to the target of 161, England started off the chase in a fairly confident manner with both openers charging but they were dismissed soon. However, once Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan started charging there was nothing the Indian bowlers could do to contain them, despite England losing three wickets. Together, the two middle-order batsmen put up an unbeaten partnership of 115 runs to see England successfully pull off the chase in the 18th over, by a margin of 7 wickets. 

To me, the turning point of the game was Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal in the 12th over, when India were looking strong on 104/3, after which they failed to recover and put up a big total for England to chase. Wickets fell regularly in the next couple of overs following that and the middle-overs momentum was decelerated then. 

According to me, the low of this game was the Indian bowlers’ performance, failing to defend 160 runs despite bagging the first three wickets within the first five overs. After Joe root’s wicket, Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan put up an unassailable partnership of 115 runs as Indian bowlers’ efforts looked absolutely futile, especially Bumrah’s, despite some efforts by the spinners- Chahal and Jadeja. 

At the end of the Powerplay, India were 63/2, a promising score given they had lost both their openers. In fact, it was the highest point of India’s innings given both Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer were there in the middle firing at the English bowlers. From Chris Jordan to Jofra Archer, all conceded big runs and the run rate of above 10 is testimony to the momentum that the two had built. 

The opening partnership between KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma ended fairly early but India’s momentum was built during the third wicket partnership between the skipper and Iyer, that was 29 quickfire runs in 16 balls. However, Kohli was dismissed in the 7th over and following that even though Iyer continued for a while with Rishabh Pant, India’s run-rate dropped after the former’s wicket.  At the end of the 15th over, India looked shaky on 118/7, with Moeen Ali bagging three wickets.

At the end of the 15th over, India were already at a pretty shaky position given they had lost seven wickets. However, in the final five overs, England bowlers couldn’t bag any further wickets with Rishabh Pant and Navdeep Saini remaining unbeaten. However, they didn’t give away heavy runs and India could manage 43 runs off 30 balls. 

Not at any point in the game did India seem to have a pure advantage over England and it went on to become a purely one-sided affair once the fourth-wicket partnership in the chase took off. The game that ended in the 18th over was far from a solid T20 competition.