Ahmedabad: Tight spells from Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India restrict England to 164 for 6 at the end of 20 overs in the second T20I here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
After being asked to bat first, England got off a disastrous start as Jos Buttler got out for nought in the third delivery of the first over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
England, however, made a quick recovery riding on a 63-run second-wicket partnership between Jason Roy (46) and Dawid Malan (24).
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As Yuzvendra Chahal breached the partnership trapping Malan in front in the second ball of the ninth over, England's innings slowed down.
Roy's dismissal in the 12th over further damaged their tempo when Sundar got the prized scalp.
But England, who were lucky today as Indian fielders have put up a sloppy performance, managed to set up a 165 runs target for the hosts with captain Eoin Morgan (28), Ben Stokes (24) and Jonny Bairstow (20) adding some crucial runs to the innings total.
India need 165 to level the series.
Among the Indian bowlers, Thakur and Sundar picked up two wickets while Bhuvneshwar and Chahal got one each, respectively.
