India vs England T20I series: Varun Chakravarthy’s 5-for in vain as Adil Rashid helps visitors stay alive

The last flicker of India’s slow-burning chase was extinguished on the first ball of the 19th over. Hardik Pandya, raging against the tide of defeat, flat-batted Jamie Overton to long-off. The batsman swiped the air in anger, as he couldn’t get underneath the ball as much as he wanted to; Jos Buttler, the catcher and England captain, flung the ball into the air in delight. The 26-runs victory ensured that his team would stay alive in the five-game series that India leads 2-1.

The hosts would consider it an aberration — they have looked invincible since early 2023, having claimed seven of their last eight series and drawn the other, apart from being world champions. Such days — when India restricted England to 171, even though they let them off the hook from 127 for eight, but couldn’t gather enough impetus to hunt down the target — are bound to occur in a series. For England, their first win after Brendon McCullum took the white-ball keys, this would be a sign of an upturn in fortunes.

The neutrals, though, would purr over two contrastingly exciting leg-spinners. The new-age one in Varun Chakravarthy, whose five-for went futile, and the anachronism that is Adil Rashid, whose one-wicket burst proved more decisive to the game’s outcome. Both have ample tricks up their sleeve, have common threads too, but use their gifts in distinct ways to achieve the same end of picking wickets and winning matches.