England completed their dominant run in the five-match T20I series against India with yet another comfortable win in the final fixture. A 45-run margin is what the Englishmen could secure in the fifth and final encounter at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, on Saturday, July 11, to complete a 4-0 whitewash against the Men in Blue.
England set a target of 258 after Jos Buttler and Harry Brook showed no mercy against the Indian bowlers, with the wicketkeeper-batter putting his vintage class on display. India lost
their opener Abhishek Sharma early, and while wickets came at regular intervals, Tilak Varma and Ishan Kishan gave the Indian fans a hopeless hope of extracting a game out of the huge target to chase.
ENG vs IND: Talking Points
1. Jos cuts butter through hot knife
It had been a while since the world saw the best of Jos Buttler with the bat. But Saturday night is what Buttler chose to screen a housefull for the fans, playing one of the best innings of his T20I career. Playing for 64 deliveries, the experienced campaigner smashed a mammoth 131 runs, which included eight sixes and 12 fours as well. This was also the second T20I century for the veteran and also his highest score in the shortest format of the game.
2. Indians fail across departments
With the ball, with the bat, and in the field, India failed to impress. First they conceded 257 runs in 20 overs, which is also the highest score for England in the format. They did sloppy work in the field. Shivam Dube dropped Harry Brook and paid the price as the English skipper made an unbeaten 95. When it came to the run chase, the Indians were nowhere near the required run rate, and it only kept climbing as nothing really stood out for the Men in Blue. Their performance in the format has certainly come under the scanner.
3. Three Lions become No. 1-ranked T20I team
A complete whitewash of 4-0 against the Men in Blue helped Brook & Co. become the No. 1 T20I team in the latest update of the ICC Team Rankings. This series also marked the first time that India won a bilateral T20I series against the Indian team, and the dominance they showed throughout against the three-time T20 World Cup-winning side and the current world champions made the victory an even more remarkable one.
ENG vs IND: Who Said What?
Jos Buttler, Player of the Match, said
"Obviously delighted. Been a bit of a lean patch. Glad to be back at my best. Played well in the IPL, felt good about my game. Something different about an England shirt and wanting to contribute. Harry's just an incredible player. Great to be at the other end and watch. Got to give yourself the time. Was a brilliant batting surface. We needed them as well, needed as many runs as possible. Great team performance. To win 4-0 against India is fantastic."
Shreyas Iyer, losing captain, said
"There's a lot to take. Especially the conditions, the awareness. It's all about adaptation I feel. Conditions kept changing from match one. As professionals we need to learn. It's important that we communicate as much as possible about what we could've done better. Fielding plays a key role in winning matches. When you come overseas, the dimensions of the grounds are different. Need to adapt. Especially on the track, which was a belter, we could've probably bluffed.
"But we also dropped a couple of catches. Could've been chasing 220-225. Unfortunately we couldn't get that opportunity. We lost (wickets) in clusters. I felt their execution in bowling was spot on. And they've played a lot of cricket over here. Sensational batting by Buttler and then Harry came in.. we dropped a couple of catches and that could've changed the rhythm of the game."
Harry Brook, winning captain, said
"We had a lot of fun. Ran well, hit boundaries and complemented each other. We were just trying to get ourselves to get in the best position we could. Cricket is a simple game we complicate. Just watched the ball and played the best shot for it. I'm striking the ball nicely.
"We've got ourselves to World No. 1, which was a game after a couple of games. All boys are delighted and we deserve to celebrate. You've to create pace on the ball while hitting spill. We have spinners with nous and have the ability to make batters think. We've bowled a lot of spin and they've been exceptional. We've communicated really well in the last 12 months and we've executed things really well."
