The three-match T20I series between England and India ended with the tourists winning 2-1 after losing a thrilling last match. England were thrashed in the first two games, but the hosts came out on top in the high-scoring final match at the Trent Bridge. It marked Jos Buttler’s first win as the full-time White-ball captain of England. The loss also turned out to be Rohit Sharma’s first defeat as a full-time captain for India across all formats, ending a 19-match streak. In this piece, we look at the stats of the top three performers from the T20I series.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Bhuvneshwar Kumar wasn’t in the top two of the wicket-takers list in the series but such was his impact that despite missing out on a game, he was adjudged the Player of the Series.
Kumar’s weapon was his swing. In the summer when Red Dukes balls offered almost negligible swing, Kumar found extravagant swing with the White ball and bamboozled the English batters. His economy rate of 4.16 was astonishing, even more so because five of his six overs came in the Powerplay.
Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan was a much-improved bowler against India than he was in the West Indies earlier this year. With eight wickets to his name, he was the leading wicket-taker of the series and also the most impactful bowler from England.
This series was in stark contrast to his only other series this year – against the West Indies. One of the biggest reasons for his improved showing against India was his length. He barely bowled anything full, mostly targeting the short of good length/short length. His economy rate of 7.25 in this series was his fourth-lowest in any series (minimum of three matches).
Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav produced not just the best innings of the series in the third T20I, but he also played one of the most impactful knocks in T20I history. Coming in at 13-2 in the third over, ‘SKY’ got out in the penultimate over of the match. Between that, he scored a sublime 117 off just 55 balls.
The highlight of the inning was his masterful field manipulation, reading of bowlers’ minds and finding gaps at will. His sublime wrists helped him play the ball a lot squarer of the wicket on the off-side. As a result, 28.2% of his runs came behind the point region. His square drive produced 22 runs. He not only hit two Fours but also hit two Sixes by ‘square driving’ balls over the point region.
SKY’s 171 runs were the highest for anyone in the series, and his inning of 117 was the second-highest for an Indian in T20I. His strike rate of 201.17 was not bettered by anyone in the series. SKY also became just the fifth Indian batter to score a T20I hundred.
Honourable mentions:
- Hardik Pandya – 63 runs, SR: 131.25, 5 wickets at 8.85 RPO
- Dawid Malan – 117 runs, Avg: 39.0, SR: 150
- Moeen Ali – 71 runs, SR: 169.04, 3 wickets
