IND vs ENG

That brings us to the end of our coverage for this match. The caravan will now move to Rajkot for the third T20I which will be played on Tuesday, January 28th. While the hosts will look to continue the good work, England will want to build on the positives from this match and get back to winning ways. Remember, the visitors cannot afford to lose another game in the series. Having said that, if today's humdinger was anything to go by, we expect a cracker on Tuesday as well. Do join us for that game at 6:00pm IST. For now, it is the duo of Darpan Tikiya and Sooryanarayan Sesha signing off. Hasta la vista!

Tilak Varma is the Player of the Match, here is what he has to say: "First of all, the wicket was slightly two paced. One after the other, wickets were falling. Gautam sir told me that you have to bat according to the situation. He told me if we need 7-8 runs an over, then I should look for one boundary every over. Yes, the plan is to come in at no.3 if a left-right combination is required. Archer and Wood were really quick and were bowling well. But we were prepared. We work hard in nets. The advice to Bishnoi was to hold the shape while playing his shots and it worked out. You saw the couple of boundaries he hit."

Suryakumar Yadav (India Captain): "A little bit of relief. The way the game was going, we though 160 was chaseable. But they bowled well and it is good that the game went down the wire. We have been playing with the extra batter for the last two-three series. We need that cushion. We are playing an aggressive brand of cricket. But it was good to see the boys playing according to the situation and stitching up small-small partnerships. Tilak Varma was fantastic. All the boys can learn from him. Bishnoi and Arshdeep made vital contributions as well."

Jos Buttler (England captain): Great game. Really exciting down to the end and full credit to Tilak for getting them over the line. I thought we created a lot of chances. Really aggressive and it was great to watch. Really pleased with the way we went about it with the bat. We lost wickets but the aggression was there and we took our chances. I thought it was a defendable score and was really pleased with the style we played. Lots of positives - Jamie Smith playing the way he did early on; Brydon Carse created lots of chances with the ball. We're very happy with the style. (Spin game a concern?) They're always going to play three spinners so they're going to take wickets. But I'd prefer if they take wickets and we can score some runs as well.

Tilak Varma has the world at his feet today. One of the shots of the innings came in the form of a no-look six off Brydon Carse, who was the pick of England's bowlers. Here's a watch!👇

Let's hear from one of India's batting heroes, Ravi Bishnoi (yes, you read that right): It was a simple conversation (with Tilak). My job was to give him the strike and not play any unnecessary rash shot. If I hung around with him we could chase it. We had few wickets in hand. I just posted a reel today on Instagram saying 'why should batters have all the fun' so today was my day (laughs). I knew he'd try to get me out with the slip in. My attempt was to go over the covers but I got a lucky boundary. I took it with both hands. (On Tilak) One of the best T20 innings. Wickets fell regularly at one end, the pitch wasn't easy. You look at their bowling attack, they're all big names and then to bat like this - he's been doing this for the last two-three months. He scored two hundreds in South Africa, scored a hundred in domestic cricket too. He's doing something really big now. (Points to his bat when asked about what reel he's posting today).

India win by 2 wickets and go 2-0 up in the series.

Tilak Varma 72* (55) | Axar Patel 2/32 (4)
Jos Buttler 45 (30) | Brydon Carse 31 (17) & 3/29 (4)

On an evening that witnessed myriad of reckless hoicks and heaves, Tilak Varma stood tall with his discerning yet flamboyant shot selection. What was even better was the maturity and self-confidence he exhibited, which manifested in the way he played out Adil Rashid's final over for almost nothing. Towards the later stage of the innings, he would walk up to his lower-order partners between balls and guide them on how to play it. In the end, he has shepherd the team over the finish line.

The consensus at the mid-innings break was that England were a few runs short. Though, they pretty much made up for it by rocking India with some early jolts. Some brisk pace from Archer and Wood deserved as much credit for the wickets as India's approach of going after almost everything. Amidst all the chaos that came to us at the speed of a fighter jet, Adil Rashid had the gall to deliver slow, loopy balls and ask the batters to generate their own pace. He ended up being the most frugal amongst the England bowlers.

However, the stand out was Brydon Carse, who had a night to remember, even though his team ended on the losing side. He followed his effervescent cameo of 31 (17) with a figures of 3/29. Buttler's innovative captaincy was another interesting aspect of the game. Even towards the fag end of the run chase, he tried to outsmart the batters by deploying close-in catchers. Though, in the end, they did end up feeling that they were indeed a few runs short. 

Earlier, in the first innings, the visiting skipper also impressed by scoring a 30-ball-45. Meanwhile India's spinners tightened the noose and induced false shots from batters who wanted to slam everything out of the park. Brook getting out to Chakravarthy, despite no smog, will be the talk of the town for the coming days. 

A flamboyant end to an innings that was full of panache. Though the mental tenacity that Tilak Varma exhibited was the highlight of that knock.

19.2 Jamie Overton to Tilak Varma, FOUR! And that's the game! Take a bow, Tilak Varma! This has been a high quality innings and a fabulous display of maturity from a youngster touted for great things in the future. And he soaks in the applause and cheers and celebrates what has been a successful thriller at Chepauk! Too full outside the off stump as Overton goes for the block hole. Tilak drills it out past extra cover and picks the gap as the fielder charges after it in vain. No beating this outfield alright and India seal a tight 2-wicket win to go 2-0 up in the series!

19.1 Jamie Overton to Tilak Varma, TREMENDOUS SAVE! That is simply outstanding from Livingstone! A poor delivery as Overton overpitches a slower one on the pads. Tilak comes forward and flicks it on the up through square leg. The ball seemed destined to hit the ropes before Livingstone charged to his right from deep backward square leg and threw himself at it. Fabulous effort to save a couple of runs!

Irrespective of what comes out of this review. The spotlight will now be on Tilak Varma. Thus far, it has been stellar innings from him. Can he take his team over the line now?