- England (180-7) beat India (177-5) by three runs
- Eoin Morgan sets up win with brilliant 71
Sex without love is an empty experience, said Diane Keaton in Love and Death. Certainly this was an empty experience, as far as England fans are concerned. An unloved format, an experimental team and nothing on the horizon in T20 cricket.
But as empty experiences go, its one of the best, is Woody Allens reply. That was a genuinely exciting match, falling short of thrilling if only for the lack of our emotional investment. Big flashy shots and perfect judgement combined to serve a timely reminder of Eoin Morgans immense talent, while the chase was close, featured the best of Virat Kohli and tantalisingly hinted at the prospect of a moment of genius from one of the great limited overs batsmen. No one is going to remember this result a week or so from now, but who cares? That was fun.
20th over: India 177-5 (Dhoni 27, Rayudu 3) Woakes goes short, Dhoni pulls it square and Moeen Ali cuts it off. They jog through for a single but Dhoni and India fall short.
19.5 overs: India 176-5 A tie would mean a super over. Oh this is screwed to square leg and Dhoni turns down the single! He wants to win this with a six.
19.4 overs: India 176-5 Slower ball again outside off, flat-batted over mid-off and the ball teases its way over the fielders head and trickles to the fence. Five needed.
19.3 overs: India 172-5 Slower ball outside off stump, pulled and Dhoni turns down the single. Presumably Morgans fine is over rate related.
19.2 overs: India 172-5 Dhoni has struggled with the short ball so god knows why Woakes went full there. Short and its pulled away, fielded by Ali and Dhoni runs two. Hes happy to sacrifice Rayudus wicket, which he doesnt as Buttler fumbled the run out. Brilliant from Dhoni.
Eoin Morgan has been fined 50% of his match fee...
19.1 overs: India 170-5 Woakes to bowl then and Dhoni lofts him over square leg for six!
19th over: India 164-5 (Dhoni 14, Rayudu 3) Gurney to bowl, which means that Woakes will have to bowl the final over. 26 needed off 12 and Rayudu gets a big thick inside edge trying to slog, that goes down to fine leg for two. Gurney gets a slower ball all wrong and its a big wide that Buttler does well to stop. A single follows and then a full toss follows and is smote low over mid-wicket for four. 18 from 9 needed, then a single slammed out to extra cover. A yard either side and that was four. Oh and now Rayudu goes across, misses out with the scoop and although its gone past leg stump theres no wide as that was in line with where he was stood. Dot to finish and well go ball-by-ball. 17 needed from the last over.
18th over: India 155-5 (Dhoni 9, Rayudu 0) Rayudu is the new batsman and he can slog em. Dhoni is on strike though and has been hit by Finn again. The captains getting a right peppering here. A wild swing by Rayudu cant get the ball away and its just nine from the over. Finn finishes with 1-28 and has bowled very well.
Another change of ends and another one-over spell for Finn. Ooh and then a full one, across Jadeja is lofted over Gurney at gully and away for four runs to wide third man. Enough of the full stuff, I reckon, so he drops short and hits Dhoni on the shoulder with a slower bouncer as the captain looks to hook. Oh and now Jadeja has been run out by a yard! He turned for a second that was never on and Finn had plenty of time to whip the bails off.
17th over: India 146-4 (Dhoni 8, Jadeja 1) That was the perfect yorker length, the one that Indias seamers were searching for to Jordan and Bopara but kept missing and turning into full tosses. Jadeja is the new man and he gets a single from the final ball. Five runs and one wicket in that over; no boundaries in the last three for India either.
England took 67 runs from their last four overs. India need 40. Tense stuff if youre watching so think how Harry Gurney must feel: hes going to bowl at least one, probably two of them. First Raina and then Dhoni look to clump him into the on-side but neither can connect with it cleanly and its just a pair of singles from the first two balls. Down the track comes Raina but Gurney follows him well, tucks him up and theres just a single. Outstanding bowling this from Gurney and the crowd are suddenly very quiet. Oh and now hes sent down the perfect yorker to bowl Raina!