Rishi Sunak, a man well-versed in seismic defeats, was present to watch another. The former prime minister was among the spectators in Mumbai as India’s Abhishek Sharma struck a staggering 54-ball 135 to set up a 150-run win over England in the fifth and final Twenty20 international.
Sharma’s hands flew on the way to 13 sixes, his final return the highest score by an India batter in T20 internationals. Forget the English, none of his teammates could match him either; Shivam Dube’s 13-ball 30 was the next-best contribution as India put together a total of 247.
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England had to go at it immediately and while Phil Salt provided a 23-ball 55, Jacob Bethell was the only other batter to reach double figures. Sharma, to confirm it was his night and no one else’s, snuck in a couple of wickets at the backend too. The tourists perished for just 97, this their biggest T20I defeat in terms of runs, India on the right end of a 4-1 series scoreline.
Replaced midway through Friday’s match by a concussion replacement, Dube was deemed fit enough to play by India just two days later, a decision that mocked the seriousness of such an injury. At the toss Jos Buttler pointedly named those not in England’s XI for the match as “our four impact subs”, the controversy of the previous game lingering on.
But history was soon forgotten by the kid from the future. Sharma had begun the series with a 34-ball 79 but this was a more pulverising knock, the carnage beginning after Sanju Samson’s early pull shot found the fielder, a familiar sight in the last fortnight. The opener still standing welcomed Jofra Archer and Mark Wood’s wheels and any width they provided in the powerplay, too; Sharma was lethal on the cut. When both quicks went full, he drove over the ropes and along the carpet too.
Jamie Overton’s entry was greeted with consecutive sixes as Sharma went to a 17-ball half-century, dominating a second-wicket stand of 115 with Tilak Varma, who contributed 24. Spin didn’t cause Sharma much trouble, mishits still clearing the boundary and Liam Livingstone on the end of a one-handed six over extra cover. The left-hander’s century arrived at the start of the 11th over, 37 balls taken to get there, the second-fastest for India. At 145 for two, a historic total of 300 could not be ruled out.
But England, to their credit, did not wilt with the ball. Brydon Carse was an impressive figure with three wickets, his short stuff cramping Varma and Dube. Sharma was kept off strike for much of the second half of the innings amid regular breakthroughs but did still manage a pair of sixes off Adil Rashid before his demise at the end of the 18th over to the leg-spinner. England players offered Sharma their handshakes, the rest of the Wankhede their adulation.
Ultra-aggression was required in the chase and Salt provided it, driving Mohammed Shami for a couple of fours before thumping the third ball of the innings over deep midwicket for six. Ben Duckett and Buttler fell quickly, the responsibility falling on Salt, England’s top-order bruiser, to play the long game, too.
Harry Brook couldn’t join Salt for a productive stand either, a sweep gone wrong against Ravi Bishnoi finding Chakravarthy’s hands in the deep, the England No 4’s discomfort against spin continuing. Livingstone came in for a five-ball nine, swinging hard and eventually into the hands of deep midwicket off Chakravarthy.
No one could connect them quite like Salt, who’d struggled for runs heading into this, a heavy leg-side blow off Chakravarthy taking the opener to a 21-ball half-century. But Dube, funnily enough, nicked off Salt in the eighth over as the innings and match collapsed. Sharma’s part-time left-arm spin was called upon for one over; he dismissed Carse and Overton while conceding three. It was some night.
