Morgan with his brilliant knock won a thrilling T20 match for England against India on Saturday. Morgan with his fighting 49 off 51 ball ensured that England is through to level the series with a six wickets win. A 50 runs innings from Lumb provided England a healthy start that took them to the winning total of 181 in reply to India’s 177.
Earlier, England tried better than they did in Pune and fielded brilliantly, but could not prevent India from posting a challenging score in Mumbai, a game the visitors need to win to share the series. They were impressive early on, struck again after a counterattack from Virat Kohli but slipped up at the death as Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni turned the tables in a brief, but potentially decisive, phase of clean hitting that propelled India to 177. The dew may make things difficult for India in the second innings but their bowlers will feel they have a sizeable cushion, set up during an onslaught in the final five overs that fetched 63 runs for the loss of just one wicket. At a time when England’s bowlers should have been aiming for yorkers, they mostly finished on a length or even shorter, enabling Raina and Dhoni to be expansive and find the boundaries. Stuart Meaker bowled well in Pune but Raina took him on today, collecting 20 in the 17th over, creaming him over extra cover and swiping him past the deep midwicket fence for six.
Jade Dernbach had dismissed Ajinkya Rahane early, but was punished when India were looking to step up, with Dhoni dispatching him for two sixes, one pulled over square leg and the next when the bowler overcompensated by pitching it up. Much like they had in Pune, India ran well between wickets, even as England’s fielders threw themselves around in the outfield, their effort undermined somewhat by India’s late assault. That surge was preceded by an exhibition of some wonderful wristwork from Virat Kohli, who pulled off some of his trademark whips from middle and off and drove elegantly through the covers not long after the early fall of Rahane. While Gautam Gambhir found it difficult to get a move on at one end, Kohli kept the runs flowing with ease at the other, targeting Luke Wright for 20 in the last over of the Powerplay. Kohli was given out lbw, with the ball probably just clipping leg, in the next over from Meaker before Wright struck twice, Yuvraj Singh featuring among his victims, to hold India back.
Scoreboard
India
G Gambhir c Bresnan b Wright 17
AM Rahane c Root b Dernbach 3
V Kohli lbw b Meaker 38
Yuvraj Singh c Root b Wright 4
RG Sharma b Tredwell 24
SK Raina not out 35
MS Dhoni c Patel b Bresnan 38
R Ashwin c Lumb b Dernbach 1
PP Chawla run out (Root/†Buttler) 0
Extras (b 2, lb 4, w 9, nb 2) 17
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 177
Did not bat AB Dinda, P Awana
Fall of wickets 1-7 (Rahane, 1.5 ov), 2-64 (Kohli, 6.5 ov), 3-71 (Yuvraj Singh, 8.1 ov), 4-88 (Gambhir, 10.5 ov), 5-108 (Sharma, 14.1 ov), 6-168 (Dhoni, 18.4 ov), 7-171 (Ashwin, 19.3 ov), 8-177 (Chawla, 19.6 ov)
Bowling: TT Bresnan 4-0-27-1, JW Dernbach 4-0-37-2, SC Meaker 4-0-42-1, LJ Wright 4-0-38-2, JC Tredwell 4-0-27-1
England
MJ Lumb st Dhoni b Yuvraj 50
AD Hales c Dinda b Yuvraj 42
LJ Wright lbw b Yuvraj 5
EJG Morgan not out 49
SR Patel c Gambhir b Dinda 9
JC Buttler not out 15
Extras (b 1, lb 8, w 2) 11
Total (4 wickets; 20 overs) 181
Did not bat JE Root, TT Bresnan, JC Tredwell, SC Meaker, JW Dernbach
Fall of wickets 1-80 (Lumb, 8.2 ov), 2-94 (Wright, 10.6 ov), 3-123 (Hales, 14.4 ov), 4-149 (Patel, 17.5 ov)
Bowling: AB Dinda 4-0-44-1, P Awana 4-0-42-0, R Ashwin 4-0-38-0, PP Chawla 4-0-31-0, Yuvraj Singh 4-0-17-3
Toss England, who chose to field
Series 2-match series drawn 1-1
T20I debut JE Root (England)
Player of the match tba
Umpires VA Kulkarni and S Ravi
TV umpire S Asnani
Match referee JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire RM Deshpande
