India has won the T-20 series over England in a riveting contest between two equally-matched sides. The win came after England scored 198 runs in the 20 overs to set India a target to go at ten runs per over from the word go.
The chase wasn’t a cakewalk as India lost Shikhar Dhawan early. But Rohit Sharma’s majestic ton (100*) with abled support from Virat Kohli, and a brilliant all-round performance from Hardik Pandya did the trick as India crossed the line before the 19th over.
But the important trend to notice was toss. The toss was the deciding factor. In first ODI, Virat won the toss put England to bat first and chased down the target.
In the second T-20 Eoin Morgan didn’t have any hesitation to put India to bat first, and last T-20 Kohli called the toss correct and put England to hit the ground running first.
In all three T-20s the team chasing won, which perhaps shows if two sides are evenly matched, and there is no dew, no help for the spinners and an absence of overcast conditions, the team chasing holds the ace.
For a team batting first, the opposition batsmen are not sure what is the defendable score, and hence the team has to go from ball one and start attacking. In doing so, the team could lose the wickets in a cluster and miss out on what could have been a competitive score.
England yesterday, for example, looked set for 220 but fell 20 runs short as they lost the wicket in heaps towards the end. Alternatively India could plan the chase by keeping wickets in hand and bursting towards the end, which is what exactly happened and India won the game comfortably without breaking a sweat.
So if the trend continues the same way, toss could be the deciding factor in the ODI series between India and England. But in saying so, India does have a slight edge with the wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. England, if they ensure they don’t lose wickets against these spinners, will be favoured to win.
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