India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday (1) said he has faith in Yuzvendra Chahal’s abilities after the leg spinner claimed six wickets to set up his country’s 75-run series-clinching victory in the third Twenty20 international in Bangalore.
Chahal recorded his T20 best of 6-25 to help skittle out England for 127 in 16.3 overs. The visitors, chasing 203, lost eight wickets for eight runs in the space of 18 deliveries.
The 23-year-old Chahal became only the second bowler in T20 cricket to get six wickets in an innings after Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis achieved the feat twice with figures of 6-8 and 6-16.
Chahal, who received the man of the match and series award for his eight scalps in three games, got great support from seamer Jasprit Bumrah’s three wickets.
“I have a lot of faith in him, and he plays with a lot of confidence. He has a lot of skill and he has the character as well,” Kohli said of his wily spinner who played just his sixth T20 international.
The attacking spinner started England’s batting rot in the 14th over of the innings, getting dangermen Joe Root (42) and skipper Eoin Morgan (40) on consecutive deliveries to derail the tourists’ chase.
Root and Morgan had kept the chase alive with their 64-run third-wicket stand, but the innings fell apart after their departure.
Chahal got three wickets in his fourth over to rip through the England middle and lower order—five batsmen were out on zero—as India won the series 2-1.
The hosts reined supreme against England after the hosts won the Test rubber 4-0 last year and triumphed 2-1 in the one-day internationals.
“Come the big game, even in the one-day series, series decider, he (Chahal) stepped up, and he stepped up again today. It’s a memorable series win for us, the whole tour,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
“It’s been a brilliant couple of months for the Indian team, going forward we know exactly what to do in each format,” he added.
Earlier scintillating half-centuries from Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped India post a mammoth 202 for six after being put into bat.
India rode on the 55-run third-wicket partnership between Raina (63) and Dhoni (56) to thwart the England bowling attack after losing early an wicket.
The hosts lost Kohli for two after a terrible mix up with Lokesh Rahul (22) saw the star batsman being run out. Kohli was furious with Rahul for not responding to his call for a single.
Raina counter-attacked with two boundaries and five sixes during his 45-ball knock as he put on crucial partnerships with Rahul and Dhoni.
Dhoni, who smacked five fours and two sixes in his 36-ball blitz, joined forces with Raina as the duo carted the England bowlers to all parts of the ground.
Raina fell in the 14th over while Dhoni, who put on 57 runs with veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh, stayed on until the second delivery of the final over.
A vintage Yuvraj turned on the heat with his 10-ball 27 as he hit seamer Chris Jordan for two fours and two sixes to give India 24 runs in the 18th over.
“Beautiful wicket to bat on, very small boundary, and altitude as well. We would have taken 190 at the start of the game,” said Morgan.
“Our batting performance was possibly the worst in the last two years, but we won’t necessarily dwell too much into that.”
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