T20 Report Card: SKY, Bhuvi 9/10

India underlined their credentials for this year's T20 World Cup with a convincing 2-1 series victory against hosts England.

India dominated the first two T20Is, winning by big margins of 50 runs and 49 runs respectively.

In the inconsequential final T20I, India went down by 17 runs despite Suryakumar Yadav's swashbuckling century.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved to be a handful with the new ball, ripping apart the England top order in the first two games, while Hardik Pandya came up with a splendid all-round showing in the series opener.

A look at how India's players fared in the T20I series.

Rohit Sharma (5/10)

Rohit will rue not being able to make most of the starts he got in all three games.

He set the tone in the early overs in the first match as he smashed 24 from 14 balls before hitting a quickfire 31 from 20 in the next.

Rohit, who made 11 in the third game, finished with 66 runs from the three games.

 

Virat Kohli (1/10)

Virat is going through the worst phase of his career. For a man known for his consistency, the way in which his career has taken a sharp dip in the last couple of years has been astonishing.

After struggling for runs in the fifth Test, a couple of failures meant he finished with 12 runs in the two T20I games.

The silent murmurs about Kohli's place in the team have turned into loud debates with many asking for the former captain to be dropped for the T20 World Cup.

 

Suryakumar Yadav (9/10)

SKY quashed all doubts about his place in the Indian T20 team with a splendid century in the final game.

He smashed a brilliant 117 from 55 balls, hitting 14 fours and four sixes, but India still lost by 17 runs in a high-scoring contest. He also played a vital cameo of 39 from 19 balls in the first game.

He finished as the highest run-getter in the series with 171 runs from three matches at a sensational strike rate of 201.

 

Hardik Pandya (7/10)

Hardik excelled with both bat and ball and added balance to the team.

Hardik sent England crashing to defeat in the first T20 as he hit 51 from 33 balls and took 4/33, but failed with the bat in the next game and was rested for the third match.

 

Shreyas Iyer (4/10)

Iyer got a lone chance in the inconsequential third T20I.

Iyer, who has struggled for runs recently, scored a quiet 28 from 23 balls to play the supporting role in his 119 run fourth wicket partnership with Suryakumar.

 

Deepak Hooda (6/10)

Hooda stroked a quickfire 33 from 17 balls in the first match to continue his good form of recent months.

Unfortunately, he had to make way for Kohli at No 3 for the second and third T20Is.

 

Ishan Kishan (2/10)

Kishan fell for eight in the first match before he was replaced by Rishabh Pant in the next two matches.

 

Rishabh Pant (6/10)

While Pant has been superb in Tests, he has struggled to make an impact in limited overs cricket.

He was accommodated as the opener in the second and third games, with India preferring Dinesh Karthik as the finisher.

Pant smashed 26 from 15 balls to give India a quickfire start in the second match while he perished after scoring just one in the third game.

 

Dinesh Karthik (2/10)

Karthik, who excelled as a finisher in IPL 2022, failed to make the same impact in the England T20I series.

Sent in to bat at No 7 in the first two matches for the last couple of overs, DK managed just 29 runs in the three matches.

 

Ravindra Jadeja (7/10)

After his stirring century in the Edgbaston Test, Jadeja continued his good form with an attacking 46 from 29 balls in the second T20.

However, his bowling left a lot to be desired as he went wicketless in six overs bowled in the last two games, while going at above 11 per over.

 

Axar Patel (2/10)

Axar played just the first match where he scored 17 from 12 balls after being promoted to No 6, but was hit for 23 runs in his two overs.

He was left out of the last two matches as Jadeja was preferred ahead of him.

 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (9/10)

Bhuvi was the bowler of the series. He made an impact with the new ball, dismissing England Captain Jos Buttler early in the first two games.

He claimed four wickets in two games at a wonderful economy rate of 4.16 before he was rested for the third match.

Harshal Patel (5/10)

Harshal was among the wickets in all three matches, but his economy rate was on the higher side as he bowled the difficult overs at the end.

Harshal took four wickets for 93 runs in the three games at an economy rate of 8.45.

 

Yuzvendra Chahal (8/10)

Chahal proved too hot to handle for England's batters.

He kept things in check in the middle overs, taking two wickets each in the first two games before he made way for fellow leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi for the final game.

Chahal finished with four wickets in the series at an economy rate of seven.

 

Jasprit Bumrah (7/10)

Bumrah played just one game in the series. He bowled a wonderful spell of 2/10 in three overs including a maiden to send England crashing for 121 in the second match.

 

Arshdeep Singh (6/10)

Arshdeep showcased his potential with an impressive showing in the first match.

He got the new ball to swing, causing the England batters problems in the early overs, while keeping things tight at the end with well-directed yorkers.

Arshdeep made a perfect start to international cricket, taking 2/18 in 3.3 overs in his debut match, but he was not picked for the last two games.

 

Ravi Bishnoi (4/10)

Bishnoi got a rare opportunity for India when Chahal was rested for the third game.

Bishnoi took the key wickets of Dawid Malan (77) and Moeen Ali (0) to finish with 2/30 at an economy rate of 7.5.

 

Avesh Khan (2/10)

Avesh was picked for the high-scoring third match.

He was hit for a few runs, finishing with 1/43 in his four overs, but bagged the crucial wicket of Jos Buttler in the Powerplay.

 

Umran Malik (1/10)

Umran received a thrashing at the hands of the England batters in the third T20I.

Umran, who was hit for 17 runs in his first over, bagged the wicket of Jason Roy (27), but struggled to keep the runs down.

The fast bowler clearly looked short of ideas as he registered expensive figures of 1/56 in his four overs as England posted a huge 215/7 at Trent Bridge.

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