Ravi Bishnoi (left) and Tilak Varma during 2nd T20I match between India and England.© BCCI
Tilak Varma scored a gritty fifty as India beat England by two wickets in the second T20I in Chennai on Saturday. In the chase of 166 runs, the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals but Tilak’s solid knock took them through. The southpaw scored 72 off 55 balls with the help of 4 fours and 5 sixes. India were in deep trouble after losing Arshdeep Singh. At that point, the hosts needed 20 runs to win off 18 balls with only two wickets in hand. This is when Ravi Bishnoi joined hands with Tilak and the duo stitched unbeaten 20-run partnership for the ninth wicket to take India home.
Bishnoi played a crucial cameo of 9 off 5 balls with the help of two fours. His boundaries came towards the fag end and made the chase easier for the Suryakumar Yadav-led side.
After the game, Bishnoi revealed that he and Tilak did not give up even when the odds were loaded heavily against them.
“(We told each other) let’s try, we will get (achieve) it. He (Varma) was set and I did not want to play a rash shot because we had less wickets in hand,” said Bishnoi at the post-match presentation.
Bishnoi added that he was bent upon making an impact in the match and show that even bowlers can chip in with the bat at crucial junctures.
“Today only I posted a reel on Instagram, saying why should batters have all the fun. When slip came in, I knew he (Liam Livingstone) would try and dismiss me with leg-spin. But I hit him with the spin for four,” added Bishnoi.
Ravi Bishnoi
“Why should batters have all the fun”pic.twitter.com/d9Wr5IWDRO
— Ayush Tomar (@ayush_tomar8) January 25, 2025
In the first innings, England posted a fighting total of 165 for 9 after getting an invitation to bat first. Jos Buttler (45 off 30) continued his good form with the bat while Brydon Carse (31 off 17) also played a crucial cameo. Other England batters failed to play promising knocks. For India, Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy picked two wickets apiece.
(With PTI Inputs)
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