English skipper Harry Brook went all guns blazing as he hit five consecutive boundaries and scored 26 runs off Arshdeep Singh in a single over. England and India came against each other in the second T20I at Manchester on Saturday, July 4. The game saw India putting up 190 with the loss of seven wickets after opting to bat first in a game that saw Vaibhav Sooryvanshi making his international debut and rewriting Indian cricket history. In return, the hosts got off to a troublesome start as they lost both their openers on ducks in the opening over bowled by Arshdeep Singh.

For a moment, it seemed like the Men in Blue had their dominance established before Harry Brook took steering in his hands and initiated a counterattack. Brook hit Singh for 26 runs in the 3rd over of the innings. The first ball saw Jacob Bethell take a single, giving strike to Brook on the second. In two back-to-back deliveries, Brook hit two boundaries and then three successive sixes. Thus, Singh, who recorded two early successes for the side in the opening over, conceded 27 runs in the third one.

Harry Brook’s knock helps England claw back in game after early setbacks

Brook’s knock gave the side much-needed boost and helped them establish control on the innings after losing their key players early. However, his knock came to end on 39 runs off 15 balls off an Axar Patel delivery. This marked Patel’s 100th wicket for the Indian team in the format, and as per sources, he became the first Indian spinner to claim his 100th T20I wicket and the fourth overall for India.

Earlier, Men in Blue registered 190 runs in 20 overs with the loss of seven wickets. Ishan Kishan ended up as the highest-scorer with 49 runs in 40 deliveries. Apart from him, Abhishek Sharma added 43 runs from 24 deliveries while England’s Sam Curran bagged three wickets in the match. However, despite posting such a competitive total, the visitors failed to defend their total and suffered a four-wicket loss to trail 0-1 in the series.