Revisiting India's last 3 T20Is at the Chinnaswamy Stadium

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is one of the most popular grounds in India. It has a history of producing some really exciting cricket. The boundaries are short and the pitch is generally in favour of the batsmen. Hence, it more often than not produces a run-fest, especially in limited-overs cricket.

The Chinnaswamy has hosted over 50 international games which include 5 T20Is. With India scheduled to play the 2nd T20I against Australia at this venue, let’s look back at all the three T20Is the ‘Men in Blue’ have played here in the past.

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#3 India vs Pakistan (2012) – Pakistan won by 5 wickets

This was the last time India and Pakistan played a bilateral series. In 2012-13, Pakistan came down to India for a short limited-overs series (two T20Is and three ODIs). The first game of the tour was at the Chinnaswamy as the arch-rivals met in a T20I bilateral series for the first time.

Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez won the toss and opted to field first. The Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane got off to a solid start as they put on 77 for the opening stand.

However, once the openers were dismissed in the span of a couple of overs, things went downhill for the hosts as they could manage just 133 in their 20 overs. They scored just 33 runs in the last 6.3 overs. Umar Gul (3/21) and Saeed Ajmal (2/25) starred with the ball for Pakistan.

India had a dream start with the ball as debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked three wickets in his opening spell. Pakistan were reeling at 12/3 in the 3rd over but the experienced duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik got together to stitch a 106-run stand.

While the former was dismissed for 61 in the 18th over, Malik batted through. Needing 10 off the final over, Malik was calm and composed as he finished things off for Pakistan with a couple of balls to spare to give them a 1-0 lead.

Brief Scores: India 133/9 (Gambhir 43, Rahane 42, Gul 3/21, Ajmal 2/25) lost to Pakistan 134/5 (Hafeez 61, Malik 57*, Bhuvneshwar 3/9) by five wickets.

#2 India vs Bangladesh (2016) – India won by 1 run

This is one match the Indian fans will not forget in a long time. If there’s one game that defines the phrase ‘snatching a win from the jaws of defeat’, it must be this. After losing the opening game of the ICC World T20 in 2016, India bounced back with a win against arch-rivals Pakistan. However, they had to win all their games to qualify for the semi-finals, meaning the game against Bangladesh was a virtual knockout.

After being put into bat, India could just manage 146 on what was an unusually slowish Chinnaswamy track. Most of the top-order batsmen got starts but none of them could convert it into something substantial. Wickets at regular intervals meant that India never had that final flourish towards the back end.

Chasing just over 7 runs an over, despite losing an early wicket, Bangladesh were on track. Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman batted well and kept up with the asking rate. However, the Indian spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja managed to choke the Bangladesh batsmen as they took two wickets apiece to keep India afloat.

With 17 runs required in the last two overs, Jasprit Bumrah bowled an excellent penultimate over as he conceded just 6 singles. Hardik Pandya was then given the ball for the final over. With just 11 runs to defend, the pressure was on the youngster who had just made his international debut a couple of months back. Mushfiqur Rahim struck a couple of boundaries to get the equation down to 2 off 3 balls and the game seemed dead and buried.

However, the drama didn’t end there. Rahim hit a short delivery straight to deep mid-wicket before Mahmudullah followed suit as he struck a full-toss to the same region. The game had suddenly come alive and with needed 2 off 1 ball, the pressure was intense. Pandya delivered a back of a length delivery which Shuvagata Hom missed and MS Dhoni ran Mustafizur Rahman out in dramatic style as India got out of jail snatching a 1 run win.

Brief Scores: India 146/7 (Raina 30, Kohli 24, Mustafizur 2-34) beat Bangladesh 145/9 (Tamim 35, Sabbir 26, Ashwin 2-20, Jadeja 2/22) by 1 run

#1 India vs England (2017) – India won by 75 runs

The last T20I that was played at the Chinnaswamy was a couple of years back when England came to India in the 2016-17 season for a full-fledged tour. After they were thrashed 4-0 in the Test series, they lost the ODI series 2-1 before they came back strongly in the T20I series. They won the first game and lost a thriller in the second.

The stage was set for the decider. Like most teams tend to do, England won the toss and elected to field first. India suffered an early set back as skipper Virat Kohli was runout in the second over.

KL Rahul then steadied the ship along with Suresh Raina as the duo shared a 61-run stand for the second wicket. Rahul’s dismissal for 22 brought MS Dhoni to the crease and he registered his maiden T20I fifty as he struck a fine 56. Raina scored 63 while Yuvraj’s 10-ball cameo where he scored 27 helped India to get past the 200-run mark.

Chasing 203, England lost Sam Billings early but Jason Roy and Joe Root rebuilt with a decent 47-run stand.

Eoin Morgan joined Root after Roy’s dismissal and England seemed to be on track. The duo added 64 runs in 7 overs before Yuzvendra Chahal wreaked havoc. In the 14th over, he picked up both set batsmen on consecutive deliveries as he turned the game in India’s favour.

Jasprit Bumrah picked up the big wicket of Jos Buttler in the next over before Chahal’s three-wicket over made the game one-sided. Bumrah finished things off as India registered a 75-run win. Chahal finished with figures of 6/25 and Bumrah took three as England lost 8 wickets for 8 runs. India eventually won the series 2-1.

Brief Scores: India 202/6 (Raina 63, Dhoni 56, Mills 1/31) beat England 127 (Root 42, Morgan 40, Chahal 6/25, Bumrah 3/14) by 75 runs.