Debutant jamie smith

MA Chidambaram Stadium: Spin duo of Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy took two wickets each as England set India a target of 166 after making 165/9 in second T20I at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.

After being put into batting first, captain Jos Buttler was fluent again to top-score with 45, while Brydon Carse led a late counter-attack with 17-ball 31 as England put in a much-improved batting performance. But with the pitch being good for batting and dew setting in, though there’s something in it for bowlers, it remains to be seen if England have enough on board to avoid being 2-0 behind in the five-game series.

For India, Axar and Varun were the standout bowlers with 2-32 and 2-38 respectively, as the hosts’ bowled 14 overs of spin, the joint second-most their slower bowlers have bowled in a men’s T20I game. The start was great forthe hosts as Arshdeep Singh removed Phil Salt with a short ball which he pulled straight to deep square leg.