England crushed India by 125 runs in the third T20I at Trent Bridge to move within one win of the series…reports London Daily News Desk
England produced a dominant all-round performance to thrash India by 125 runs in the third T20 International at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the five-match series after the opening match was washed out.
The emphatic victory leaves England needing just one win from the remaining two matches to clinch the series, while India must win both fixtures to avoid defeat.
Opting to bat first, England piled up 201/7 in their 20 overs, with opener Phil Salt leading the charge through a fluent 70 off 44 deliveries.
Salt laid the foundation before Sam Curran provided the finishing flourish with an unbeaten 41 off 24 balls. Captain Jos Buttler contributed 36 as England comfortably crossed the 200-run mark despite losing wickets in the middle overs.
For India, debutant Prince Yadav impressed with figures of 2/30, dismissing Harry Brook before later removing the well-set Salt. India also claimed three run-outs but struggled to stem the flow of runs in the closing overs.
India’s reply never gathered momentum as England’s pace attack ripped through the batting order.
Chasing 202, the visitors were bowled out for just 76 in 11.4 overs, registering one of their heaviest defeats in T20 International cricket.
Josh Tongue starred with the ball, returning figures of 4/28, while Jofra Archer claimed 3/29 and Adil Rashid took 2/14 as England wrapped up the innings with ease.
Despite the crushing defeat, India head coach Gautam Gambhir urged patience, saying inconsistent performances were inevitable during the team’s rebuilding phase following last year’s T20 World Cup triumph.
“If you see, there have been changes to this T20 team. When you go to reset your T20 side, then many times you get such performances. If you see the playing XI of the World Cup final and the one today, there are a lot of changes. Whether you take the captain, the opening batters… Hardik Pandya is not there, Jasprit Bumrah is not there. So when you go to reset again, it takes a little time,” Gambhir told reporters after the match.
The former India opener said one poor performance should not define the team.
“I think we just haven’t played well. You don’t become a bad team after four games. Sometimes, if the opposition plays better than you… sometimes you don’t assess the conditions better, you don’t read the conditions better. Reading the game is equally important as well. We haven’t done that since Ireland,” he said.
Highlighting the inexperience in the squad, Gambhir pointed out that several players were still adapting to international cricket.
“A 15-year-old player is opening the batting, you have Prince Yadav who just played his second T20I. There’s Harshit Rana who is just coming back from injury. It’s very easy to say things but ultimately we see the results and no doubt, results are important in international cricket. But being practical is also very important. Many times you give time to the players to grow, to develop. But especially against such a team – England are a high-quality side – if you push players into such a deep sea, give them a little time and they will eventually develop. Because after a reset, things take time to get back to normal,” he said.
Gambhir also felt India failed to adapt to the playing conditions, particularly the breeze and boundary dimensions, and said the experienced middle order needed to shoulder greater responsibility.
“Sometimes, it’s a small thing, but Breeze can play a huge part as well. Sometimes, one side, where the dimensions are much bigger than the other side, that is important as well. So these small, small things in a T20 game can make a huge difference. And sometimes what happens is when everyone in the batting line-up starts playing high risk, high reward, these things can happen. So probably, in the middle-order, the experienced guys who’ve played enough international cricket need to adapt and probably play according to the situation as well,” he said.
Drawing comparisons with India’s successful T20 World Cup campaign, Gambhir said the current batting unit lacked the stabilising role played by the middle order during that tournament.
“We did that during the World Cup as well. Our top three was firing and we wanted to get that high risk, high reward, but then we had 4 or 5 who were still able to build the innings and probably anchor it as well. That is something that we’ve lacked today and that’s why we got the result. Again, I think it boils down to probably reading the game situation,” he added.
While acknowledging India’s struggles against pace, Gambhir insisted the team’s attacking approach would not change.
“I don’t know what England is going to try and do, but we have got to keep getting better at playing pace. And more importantly, I thought that today was probably one of the off days, because if you see the last two T20Is, we have got 190 on the board in both. So sometimes when you play a high-risk kind of game, these things can happen,” he said.
Responding to questions over Sanju Samson’s omission, Gambhir said team selection would continue to be based on form and the best combination.
“As far as clarity is concerned, we are absolutely clear that Sanju, what he has done for India during the World Cup has been phenomenal. And sometimes you just have to look at the form as well of a certain player. There is no hard and fast rule that he cannot make a comeback in this series,” he said.
Reiterating that performances remain the deciding factor, Gambhir added: “Ultimately international cricket is about results. So whatever we feel is the best combination to give us the results, we play that combination, we play that playing XI. Everyone needs to earn their place.”
Brief scores:
England 201/7 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 70, Sam Curran 41 not out, Jos Buttler 36; Prince Yadav 2/30) beat India 76 all out in 11.4 overs (Josh Tongue 4/28, Jofra Archer 3/29, Adil Rashid 2/14) by 125 runs.
