Powerful India Beats England By 7 Wickets In 2nd T20I, Level Series 1-1

Skipper Virat Kohli and debutant Ishan Kishan hit half-centuries as India hammered England by seven wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

England 164/6 in 20 overs (J Roy 46, D Malan 24, E Morgan 28, B Stokes 24, S Thakur 2/29, W sundar 2/29) lost to India 166/3 in 17.5 overs (I Kishan 56, V Kohli 73 not out, R Pant 26)

India vs England 2nd T20I Match Report 

After opting to bowl first, India began well getting rid of Jos Buttler early, in the very first over, but a 63-run partnership between Jason Roy (46 off 35 balls) and Dawid Malan (24 off 23 balls) helped the visitors get back on track.

Roy, who scored 49 in England's opening win on Friday, missed out on another fifty after getting caught at deep square leg off Sundar.

Sundar struck again in his next over to claim Jonny Bairstow for 20 and medium-pacer Thakur cut short skipper Eoin Morgan's stay after getting him caught on a slower delivery. Morgan made 28.

England were coasting along well at 129 for four in 15 overs and looked good at putting up a huge total. However, tight bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya allowed England to get only 35 runs in the last five overs.

The Indian bowlers brought in change of pace towards the end of the England innings to restrict the visitors to 164 for six in 20 overs.

Ishan Kishan, opening the innings in place of Shikhar Dhawan who was benched, hammered four sixes and five fours in his innings and made easy work of the 165-run target that England had set up. The Left-hander, just 22, hit 56 off 32 balls before he fell to Adil Rashid's leg-spin. 

India had lost the wicket of K.L. Rahul early in the first over. The Karnataka batsman fell for a duck.

If England thought that they were back, Rishabh Pant (26 off 13), another big-hitter, joined Kohli at the crease and the two added 36 for the third wicket in just 3.3 overs. By the time of Pant's dismissal, England were down and out. India reached the target with 13 balls to spare. Virat Kohli finished the game with a six and remained unbeaten at 73 off 49 balls.