England beat India by 4 wicket to lead the series by 1-0
Jacob Bethell smashed an unbeaten 76 off 46 balls to guide England home in the successful chase of 191 runs
Debutant Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who became the youngest Indian to play international cricket got out for 14 in his first match
India's post-T20 World Cup struggles continue as the defending champions suffered their third consecutive defeat in the format, excluding the washed-out fixture, since lifting the trophy in Ahmedabad on March 8, 2026.
England thrashed the World champions by 4 wickets at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester, to lead the five-match series by 1-0. Their T20 semifinal centurion, Jacob Bethell, played yet another masterclass innings of 76 not out off just 46 balls to guide his team home, while successfully chasing a target of 191 runs with one over and four wickets to spare.
England got off to a horrid start in a stiff chase of 191 and were reeling at 1/2 after losing both openers in the first over to Arshdeep Singh, but skipper Harry Brook provided the momentum to the chase with a fiery 39 off 15 balls, and Bethell took it from there to complete the chase.
Bethell forged a crucial 67-run stand with Tom Banton (39) to take England closer to the finishing line and slammed five fours and the same number of sixes to seal the deal at the end of the 19th over.
It has been a difficult start for newly-appointed T20 captain Shreyas Iyer, who succeeded Suryakumar Yadav after the latter's highly successful tenure. Suryakumar not only remained unbeaten in bilateral series but also signed off with a World Cup triumph.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi turned out to be the weakest link in the Indian bowling line-up as he ended up giving 60 runs in his quota of 4 overs without picking up any wicket. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, whose mystery has now been almost decoded at the international level also went for 37 runs in his four overs and picked up just one wicket.
Earlier, India handed over the maiden T20I cap to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who became the youngest Indian cricketer to feature for India, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar in men's and Shafali Verma in women's cricket.
Sooryavanshi started well with two sixes but was stumped by Jos Buttler off Will Jacks for 14 off 10 balls. Abhishek Sharma (43 off 24 balls) and Ishan Kishan (49 off 40 balls) played handy knocks along with Tilak Varma's brisk 24 off 11 balls at the end to take India to a decent total of 190 runs in the first innings.
While the surprising series defeat against Ireland was initially viewed as an aberration, the subsequent loss in the second T20I against England — after the opening game was washed out — has raised a few questions for the Shreyas Iyer and Gautam Gambhir-led team management such as an underperforming middle-order and a woefully out-of-form spin department.
India Vs England, 2nd T20I: Toss Update
India won the toss and elected to bat first against England in the 2nd T20I.
India Vs England, 2nd T20I: Playing XIs
India: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Harshit Rana, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy
England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue
