Super Sixes SRL | IND vs ENG Evaluation Chart - Rohit, Iyer fire as India ease past England
A fine 48 from opener Rohit Sharma, backed up by thumping knocks from the Delhi Capitals duo of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, sealed India a convincing six-wicket win for England in the SRL. Despite both Roy and Baistow firing, Navdeep Saini’s three-wicket haul kept England in check.
Match Review
After calling it right at the toss and inserting England into bat, the Indian bowlers were instantly exposed to the wrath of Jason Roy, who teed off after treading cautiously for a couple of overs. Buttler’s dismissal was expected to bring some relief but instead, things went from bad to worse for the Men in Blue, as Bairstow double-teamed with Roy to inflict pain on the Indian bowlers. The duo put on an 87-run stand and threatened to take England beyond 200, but a fine effort towards the end from the bowlers - especially from Saini, who ended with figures of 3/25 - meant that 178 was what England could manage.
Chasing 179, KL Rahul’s rusty run of form continued as he walked back to the pavilion for a ten-ball four, but skipper Kohli and Rohit Sharma kick-started the party for the Indians, who were going at a fine pace throughout the first half of their innings. A double-strike from the English spinners then sent both Kohli and Rohit back to the hut in the span of 3 overs, but Shreyas Iyer - who scored a 25-ball 51 - and Rishabh Pant - who scored a 23-ball 35 - both played masterful cameos to take the Men in Blue home with an over to spare.
You can check out the scorecard and Match Tracker here.
Turning Point
For 35 overs, the game oscillated either way, but it was the 16th over of the chase, bowled by Adil Rashid, which virtually sealed the game for India. With 40 needed off 5 overs, Rashid had the chance of tightening the noose on the batters, but instead, he ended up conceding two sixes to Shreyas Iyer and that brought the equation down to run a ball. That became a point of no-return for England.
Highs and Lows
Look no further than Jason Roy’s onslaught of Yuzi Chahal post the powerplay for the ‘highs’. The right-hander deposited the first two deliveries post the powerplay, bowled by Chahal, to the stands to symbolically assert his authority over the game. That was, in fact, the beginning of a bad day for Chahal, who ended up with figures of 0/39.
It is not often that Jasprit Bumrah finds his name in the ‘lows’ section, but today was one of those days. The right-armer conceded a whopping 27 runs off his final over, an over that also had three extras, and that almost ended up single-handedly undoing the good work done by the other bowlers. As it turned out, his forgettable over single-handedly gave England the late push they needed.
Rating Charts
Powerplay exploitation: England 8/10 and India 7/10
50/1 at the end of 6 overs indicates that a side has had a pretty solid powerplay and England’s powerplay today was just that. While Buttler’s performance was a bit underwhelming - a 12-ball 8 - both Roy and Bairstow more than made up for it with some clean and clinical hitting. The 15-run fifth over was the undisputed highlight of the phase.
Throughout the course of this SRL, the powerplay has been India’s Achilles heel and albeit it not doing any damage to them today, the Men in Blue did fail to make the most of the field restrictions. This was primarily due to an extremely scratchy knock from Rahul, who just amassed four runs in the ten balls he faced before perishing to the bowling of Archer. Kohli and Rohit did try their best to make amends, but alas India ended up with just 39 runs in their first 6 overs.
Middle-overs manoeuvring: England 8/10 and India 10/10
The powerplay showcased the demo of the Roy-Bairstow show and in the middle-overs, India witnessed the full version of the same. The tone for the middle overs was set right from the very first over, with Roy collecting 16 runs off Yuzi Chahal and England rode on that momentum to ensure that they batted themselves into a very strong position heading into the final five. However, they did eventually end up losing three wickets in the final four overs in the middle and that significantly hindered their progress. 78/3 in this ‘boring’ phase is not bad, nevertheless.
Ah, a 10/10 score in the middle overs is just so satisfying to see. India’s performance in the middle overs was exactly what the numbers state - 10/10. With the required run rate 10 an over at the start of the 7th over, Rohit Sharma decided to put his foot on the pedal and weirdly, Kohli’s dismissal turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Indians as Iyer proved to be the perfect foil for Rohit. Together, the duo put on 36 runs in just 3.1 overs to leave England shell-shocked. 100 is what India eventually ended up scoring in the middle.
Death bowling: India 6/10 and England 4/10
If not for Jasprit Bumrah’s abomination of a 19th over, India might have even scored a 9 or a 10 in this section. But either way, ignoring the presence of Bumrah in the match, India conceded just 23 runs in the other 4 overs bowled. Navdeep Saini conceded just 4 runs and took three wickets in the last over of the first innings and stopped England from getting to the 200-run mark which they desired. A tidy performance, minus that one over.
The English bowlers had 40 runs to defend, heading into the death, but their fight was quickly diffused by the brilliance of Iyer and Pant. First it was Iyer, who ripped apart both Rashid and Wood, and then it was Pant, who provided the finishing touches towards the end with some thunderous strikes. Can’t really fault the bowlers, for they were outplayed by two world-class young batsmen who were simply ‘ in the zone’.
Match Frenzy O Meter - Good
Despite the game not providing ‘drama’, quality passages of play were aplenty and the quartet of Roy, Bairstow, Iyer and Rohit did put on an absolute show today with the willow. Not a great encounter by any means, but it was definitely entertaining enough to be considered good.