India captain Shreyas Iyer was obviously upset, but he refused to hold leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi accountable for his 29-run over that changed the course of his team’s four-wicket loss to England in this Saturday’s second Twenty20 International at Old Trafford in Manchester.
England required 49 from 24 balls while chasing 191 with four wickets in hand when Bishnoi bowled consecutive no balls that Jacob Bethell hammered for sixes off the accompanying free hits.
“I know where it all went away but I don’t want to pinpoint any particular player. After 15th (16th) over, momentum went away,” Iyer, who is yet to win a single game as India skipper, was quoted by PTI as saying at the post-match presentation.
He backed the under-fire bowler when questioned about Bishnoi’s no-ball issues.
“I think one no ball, I think he’ll come back stronger. Then the game got away in the 17th over… he’ll have to learn. It was a phenomenal score, on this track, Tilak’s phenomenal 24 not out in the final over. But we have to give credit where its due: watching Bethell, he definitely took on the bowlers,” Iyer said.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, made his debut as the youngest India international, and the captain was all praise for him.
“I think he’s got that unflinching attitude… It’s just sensational to watch. I wasn’t anticipating him to be nervous as he has played sensational cricket during last couple of months and years. He definitely stepped up to the occasion, pleasing to the eye.”
England captain Harry Brook was optimistic that they would chase down the score since they knew that one side of the boundary was extremely short and that one might hit against the wind.
“With the wind and dimensions of the ground, we knew we could chase it. We were happy where we were after the powerplay. The way Bethell played was phenomenal.”
Brook set the tone by taking 27 off Arshdeep Singh.
“I think you’ve got to try and maximise the powerplay as well as you can. All our batters have shown innovation; can hit all around the ground.”
He couldn’t stop applauding Bethell for his unbeaten 76 off 46 balls.
“He’s an awesome talent out there, rallies the troops well in the field. He’s so mature for his age. He’s got a long career ahead of him.”
Bethell, for his part, credited his skipper for launching the initial assault.
“It worked out well in the end. Just going in to bat, two down, Brooky set the momentum, made it easy for me. Everyone just kept chipping in. In those kinds of chases, you don’t go rapid the whole time. Two big overs and the game swings.”
Reflecting on Bishnoi’s over, Bethell admitted he had a slice of luck despite hitting towards the longer boundary.
“If I’m honest, I would have targetted the other end, my leg side with the wind, but you know, free hits, bowler’s down, and you take it on. The thing with playing on different dimensions is one side might be easier to hit sixes, but you can also score runs hitting it into the bigger gaps. We were good with that as a team.”
