India placed on an all-round present on the Wankhede Stadium, blowing England away within the fifth and ultimate T20I on Sunday. Opener Abhishek Sharma entered historical past books together with his 54-ball 135, the second-fastest century and the very best rating by an Indian batter in T20Is. Whereas Abhishek’s knock was absolutely the spotlight of the record-breaking evening in Mumbai, the catching and fielding deserved a giant shoutout. Save Phil Salt‘s 23-55 ball, the remainder of the England gamers perished for affordable after trying large pictures.
India took some gorgeous catches within the outfield, however Varun Chakravarthy‘s try at long-on bought the seal of approval from India head coach Gautam Gambhir.
The incident occurred on the primary ball of the eighth over when Brydon Carse tried to heave Abhishek down the bottom, just for Chakravarthy to seize the ball close to the boundary line.
It wasn’t a simple catch as Chakravarthy needed to cowl numerous floor. Reacting to the catch, Gambhir, who was sitting on the dugout close to the boundary, gave a surprising response.
Gautam Gambhir response is strictly my response watching Varun Chakravarthy taking operating catches at lengthy on. pic.twitter.com/fFuF93vHiM
— INDIA (@KKRWeRule) February 2, 2025
India’s win by 150 runs is now their second greatest by margin of runs in T20Is after their 168-run hammering of New Zealand in 2023.
Salt’s preliminary onslaught of a 23-ball 55 with seven fours and three sixes stored England on observe for a mammoth chase, however remainder of the batters produced an uninspired present, crumbling like ninepins on the Wankhede Stadium.
The main chunk of England batters – Ben Duckett (0), Buttler (7), Harry Brook (2) and Liam Livingstone (9) – collectively made an embarrassing 18 runs on an ideal batting observe.
There wasn’t any resistance from the tail both. After hammering their bowlers, Abhishek returned to hang-out England batters to take two wickets (2/3) in his solely over, dismissing Brydon Carse (3) and Jamie Overton (1).
Mohammed Shami returned 3/25, Shivam Dube took 2/11, Varun Chakravarthy claimed 2/25 and Ravi Bishnoi bagged 1/9.
However the evening belonged to just one man as Abhishek tore into the English bowling with disdain, producing a knock of the very best high quality, replete with compelling strokes in opposition to tempo and spin alike as he etched his identify in file books.
(With PTI Inputs)
Matters talked about on this article
