England crashed to their biggest ever Twenty20 international defeat courtesy of Abhishek Sharma’s record-breaking batting blitz on an evening when the presence of another Indian left hander stuck in the craw.
Abhishek flogged England’s pace-heavy attack for 135 from just 54 balls, the largest score by an Indian batsman in this format powered by a new high 13 sixes on a raucous evening that began in high farce when Shivam Dube was named in India’s XI less than 48 hours after he was controversially replaced under concussion protocols.
The decision by match referee Javagal Srinath to rubber-stamp India’s request to parachute 90-mile-per-hour fast bowler Harshit Rana into Friday’s action in place of batting all-rounder Dube marred the series-sealing win in Pune.
And Dube’s presence at the Wankhede Stadium for this huge 150-run loss clearly riled England long before his cameo of 30 off 13 provided back-up to Abhishek. He later struck twice, removing top scorer Phil Salt with his first delivery, in a rare trundle for his medium pace.
Under concussion protocols in the UK, such contributions would not have been possible as Dube would automatically have been serving a seven-day sit out to protect his welfare. International guidelines also state that a graded return to playing cricket usually takes that long.
England coach Brendon McCullum had taken his opportunity post-match in Pune to inform Srinath of his disappointment that Harshit was cleared to play despite not meeting the like-for-like element stipulated in concussion substitutions.
India produced a superb performance as they hit 247-9 from their 20 overs in Mumbai
Abhishek Sharma’s brilliant 135 from just 54 balls propelled the hosts to a huge total
Buttler then took his opportunity for a further dig at yesterday’s toss, with Srinath alongside him, confirming England’s XI in a television interview by process of elimination – sarcastically naming four ‘impact subs’.
To be fair, on a night when India crowned a new heir to their batting throne, not even 12 men would have been enough to halt Abhishek’s assault.
Taking advantage of a pristine pitch, he had gone chanceless when, having been starved of the strike after getting to a 37-ball hundred, he miscued a wide googly into the night sky.
After the ball settled in the grasp of Jofra Archer at deep cover, a parade of Englishmen led by Buttler and recalled fast bowler Mark Wood showed their appreciation, running to their tormentor to either shake him by the hand or pat him on the back.
‘I’ve played quite a lot of cricket and credit to him, that’s as clean ball striking as I’ve seen,’ said Buttler.
‘You always think “what more could we have done?” Or “how could we have stopped him?” But some days I think you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition. He played brilliantly well.’
Acknowledging each corner of the 35,000 full house as chants of ‘Abhishek’ rained down on him, he returned later to join in India’s fun in the field, taking two wickets with his left-arm spin, as England – forced into big hits from the off by an asking rate of 12.5 runs an over – were dismissed for 97 in just 63 legitimate deliveries. It was comfortably their shortest-ever T20 innings.
‘I’ve played in a few games like this and it generally goes one of two ways: you either get somewhere near or you fall in a heap and today was that day,’ Buttler added.
England were abject in their bid to restore some pride from a chastening series as they were bowled out for just 97
Earlier, after Buttler won his second successive toss, Sanju Samson flew out of the blocks, crunching Jofra Archer’s first ball of the match for six and helping himself to 16 before Abhishek took strike.
Once Samson departed in the second over, however, the 24-year-old went into overdrive, favouring flowing straight hits down the ground to clear the boundary. His 50 spanned just 17 deliveries, the second quickest amongst Indian players behind Yuvraj Singh’s famous 12-ball effort against England in the 2007 World Cup.
But from a position of 143 for two at the halfway mark, they were restricted to 104 runs in the final 10 overs by the loss of regular wickets.
Brydon Carse struck three times in another fine display while Mark Wood, preferred to Friday’s triple wicket maiden man Saqib Mahmood due to his extra pace, went some way to justifying that selection decision by finishing with 4-0-32-2.
Salt then took 17 off the first over, to temporarily put England ahead of India at the same stage – but it was never going to last and when Dube’s gentle cutter grazed Salt’s edge, those in the away dugout didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
‘I’m sure he must have been happy with the risk he, or their medical staff, took,’ said Buttler.
