India routs England by 49 runs

India clinched the Twenty20 series against England after a 49-run rout in the second match at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Ravindra Jadeja’s 46 not-out lifted India from mediocrity to 170-8 then Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah shared five wickets to ensure England never launched. England was all out with three overs to spare.

India has an unassailable 2-0 series lead with one more T20 to play on Sunday at Nottingham.

After limping to 33-4 before being dismissed for 148 in the series opener at the Rose Bowl, England slumped to 27-3 before crumbling to 121 all out after 17 overs.

Kumar nipped out Jason Roy with the first ball of the reply and dismissed captain Jos Buttler cheaply for the second match in a row, while the returning Bumrah outfoxed Liam Livingstone with a slower ball.

England was unable to recover despite Moeen Ali’s counter-attacking 35 off 20 balls as they slipped to a fifth loss in a row in T20s when chasing, which Buttler chose to do after winning the toss.

India brought back Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Bumrah and Jadeja, all of whom missed the 50-run triumph at Southampton because of their test commitments, when England chased down a record 378 for a famous win.

But it was the inclusion of Richard Gleeson who initially made the biggest splash as the oldest England debutant at 34 since Paul Nixon in 2007. He also snared the princely wickets of India captain Rohit Sharma, Kohli and Pant in the space of eight balls to finish with 3-15.

Chris Jordan collected 4-27, including dismissals of Harshal Patel and Kumar for his best T20 figures since March 2019 but Jadeja, who registered his first overseas century here last week, pierced gaps in the field in his unbeaten 46 in 29 balls to swell India’s total.

Momentum swung in their favour at the outset of the chase when Kumar first induced Roy’s outside edge before getting Buttler on 4 on review in his next over. Buttler appeared sheepish despite the not-out decision but India queried the verdict and the technology detected a thin spike.

Livingstone was castled between bat and pad by Bumrah’s clever off-cutter and England’s hopes dwindled dramatically from that point. Harry Brook was caught at long-on while Dawid Malan, up until that point a reassuring presence at the crease, reverse swept a full toss to backward point on 19.

David Willey made an unbeaten 33 to help England reach three figures but Kumar returned to the attack to pick up the wicket of Gleeson and finish with 3-15 of his own.

Buttler was left with back-to-back defeats at the beginning of his reign as England’s full-time white-ball captain.