Test Match Special - England inflict record defeat on India

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

England beat World Champions India by 125 runs at Trent Bridge to go two up in the T20 series. It’s India’s heaviest T20 defeat. England made 201/5 and then bowled out India for only 76.Simon Mann is joined by former England bowler Steven Finn and ex India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta. Plus, Henry Moeran speaks with the two captains Harry Brook and Shreyas Iyer.The 4th T20 is on Thursday with commentary on 5 Sports Extra from 5.15pm.

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That's good bad billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Rati faces where Rashid. Oh, he's bowled him. He's cleaned him up. It's all over. And India have been hammered. 76 all out in 11 and a half overs. Beyond anything England could have hoped for at the halfway stage.

They've won by 126 runs and it's India's heaviest defeat by runs in a T20 international. An absolute hammering here at Trent Bridge and an early finish. It is. I mean, I mean, I do understand they have a tempo, there's a certain way they want to back. But then they've got to, got to understand these conditions and back accordingly as well. first of all, obviously, 202, that was, I mean, we've said this before as well, I think it was an above-pass score. But then if you're chasing down an upper-pass, above-pass score, you've got to be that much more careful in how to approach. And then chasing, that does help you a little bit, just looking at the first innings and seeing how the English batters went about their job. But, you know, that was the disappointing bit.

It wasn't that India were batting first. India batted second, so they had the first inning. to kind of have a look and the blueprint was there for them to follow. Unfortunately, there's a lack of application from the Indian batters. And yeah, not giving respect to these conditions, the opposition in these conditions, and pay the price for it. I don't think England can quite believe what's happened, Phine. I'm sure India can't either, but there's an almost look of bemusement on the face of the England players as well.

Well, it was bizarre, wasn't it? That power play was strange, and you look at the... wickets and a couple were done by good bowling. But then it felt as though the ball was just going for four, six, or it was going straight to a fielder. It happened twice. And almost as though the batters didn't know that the fielders were there, Shreyes in particular.

Out to deep backward square leg, it was almost so surprised that there was a fielder there to catch it, who was Jacob Bethel. So, yeah, I do feel as though India maybe didn't recognize the fact that you can catch up on this ground. And England didn't score for the first eight ball. of their innings. Phil Salt was very slow out the blocks but then once he got used to the pace of it because of the dimensions here it is easy to catch up

and whether the score felt really imposing to India and they felt as they had to have a really great power play in order to give themselves a chance I would argue that the other way round would have been a far more fruitful way of going about the chase here is give yourself an opportunity to get used to the pace of it and then try and cash in when when you're on top in the middle and Finney that's what I've been saying from, in fact, game one in Ireland that when you're playing in these conditions, it's a little old school when you play in India,

is the first six overs, you do bulk of the scoring, and then the pitches and the spinners come in and all of that, and then it kind of slows down, and you pick it up at the back end. But in these conditions, it's a little old school where you try and keep wickets in hand for the back end, and then you score, that's where you score. And the other thing, I don't know whether you agree or not

with the bowling bid as well. I thought India went to the slow balls way too early, That's one, and also the spinners, I thought they were a lot quicker in the air. If you look at Will Jax and Rush, their pace at which they bowled, they were a lot slower. And on surface, some surfaces, I think it's one of them, this one here, the quicker you bowl, the easier it is, it comes onto the battle a lot better. And I think if you look at, I mean, hindsight is always better that way, but I thought Indian spinners were kind of quicker in the air as compared.

So, obviously, the English spinners were a lot more effective. and same, something that you mentioned, hard length, back of length, top of off-strum or top of middle. And you look at the Indian innings and when the Indian bowlers bowl, they went to do the defensive skill set way too early. I mean, they were bowling slow ones in the first over. Harshid bowl slow balls in his first over. Yeah, and I think that can sometimes be. And this is why this tour will be a good learning curve for a lot of these young Indian players or the inexperienced players who've had to wait their time to make their way into the team.

they because of the likes of Roehyp, Virat, Bumra, Hardik. You've got these superstars who have just occupied the team for 10 years or more. And now this is them getting the opportunity. And when you do play in different conditions and you've not been exposed to it because they're only allowed to play in the IPR, they don't play in the other leagues anywhere else in different conditions.

You do have to learn very quickly, otherwise you get caught on the hop. And I think that's what's happened in this tour so far. I mean, it probably won't change, but is it something that needs to change? Do you think deep that Indian players need to play outside the IPL? The next T20 World Cup is in Australia, which is a different challenge, isn't it?

A very different challenge from playing in India. I don't think things need to change, but not on those lines. What things need to change is these guys should also understand there are different ways of approaching T20 cricket and different conditions would force you to kind of change your goal. game a little bit. You know, it's, and with modern day cricket, contemporary cricket, and especially in T-20, it's very easy for the player, so this is how I bat.

Not really. I mean, yes, you have a basic tempo or basic way you bat, but then good batters will always kind of adapt to conditions and math situations. And I think, and something that Finney mentioned is so true, I mean, they are inexperienced. A lot of them are playing in these conditions for the first time. So they'll be interesting to see how quickly they learn and how they change or adapt. their cricket accordingly. Well, the point is now India cannot win this series.

England had 2-0 up with 2 to play. Of course, the first game was washed out at the halfway point in Durham. So, yeah, England got a great chance. And a bit of a lift, I suppose, for English cricket, because a real downer after the test series, a completely different form of the game. But of course, Brendan McCullum is still the, you know, he's the white ball coach as well as the red ball coach.

Yeah, and I think Harry Brooks had a really good series. so far as well, the way he's shuffled his bowlers, the way that he's picked his teams as well in the two games that England have won. So, yeah, sometimes it can get overlooked for the way that a guy captains in T20 cricket, and I think good signs for him. He looks as though he is the one making the decisions out there.

He's the one bossing things around, and I think that's good signs. Stephen, thank you very much. Deep, thank you very much. So India, all out for 70. and 11.4 over as they've lost by 125 runs England making 201 for 7. Tung took 4 for 28, Archer 3 for 29. Phil Salt made 70

in that England innings and Sam Cullen 41 not out so England two up with two to play Bristol on Thursday San Hampton on Saturday the remaining games This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live Well Harry, that was an unusual game of T20 cricket. What a victory. Yeah, outstanding. I'm pretty speechless, how well we played there. What do you put it down to? Because that is India's heaviest ever defeating T20s by a massive margin.

I think the way that we've been communicating, which is out of this world, how good we've been communicating really, we realised what was going to be hard to hit on that surface very early on. And then the bowling display was unbelievable. And to get us to that total in the first place, Salty played unbelievable, with a few of the lads chipping in there as well with Sam and Jacks' little cameo as well. But like I said, the communication

and the way that we've recognised what is hard to face on that surface was very good. So what does that look like the communication? That is players coming back in and saying this is what the surface is doing? A little bit, yeah. And then conversations with bars as well who's obviously watching every ball

and he picks up things very quickly. And then, and then lads coming off, having conversations with bars, the back, Tres and the bowling coach as well, Tim and Jets. Yeah, and then just committing to that plan. And like we saw, it worked. With the ball, Josh Tong, special night, first wickets in T20 international cricket.

I mean, he's a real threat. Well, he's been phenomenal for England for three or four years or however long he's played. He's high pace, high skill, the ability to hold his length really well as well there, which we really needed out on that surface. Yeah, he was awesome tonight. And Geoffrey Archer, player of the match,

again, it's such a weapon to have in the armoury. Another one that balls thunderbolts with high skill as well. His variation in pace is with his slow balls and his high pace, 92, I think he was clocking at tonight. And again, on that surface, all we needed to do was hold length and we did that really well. As a captain, how much you enjoying the tactical side of it and leading this England side?

The conversations as well. It's a lot of fun knowing that we're going out there. We're really ruthless and committed to the plans that we're trying to do. And that's just a show there like we've seen there. We really committed to our plans trying to hit the top of the stumps with the odd bouncer, as simple as it is. It works perfectly on that surface. and it's just it's quite, yeah, it's nice to see them plans

and then conversations coming into good use. Chance to win the series and seal the deal of Bristol. That would be some achievement. India are an extremely strong side. They've come over full strength apart from Bunbaugh, and yeah, we've played really well so far, but the series isn't done. We've still got two more games,

and we would like to win 4-0, obviously. Shrears, what do you put that down to tonight? an awful loss, honestly. Can't be losing by such a big margin. When you're representing the country, I feel it's important that you know what sort of confidence you bring onto the table as a team player and also as a captain. A bit disappointed, but definitely I would say that it's not the end of the world. I'm going to see the sunrise tomorrow and definitely a lot to learn,

especially when you're playing in English conditions. I saw you having a fairly intense conversation in the doggout after the match. for you as a captain, it must be incredibly frustrating. Certainly it is as a captain because it's a transition phase. A lot of players are playing here for the first time. They've never seen or experienced such sort of atmosphere. So they also need to learn as quickly as possible and adapt to the conditions. And that's what I was having the conversation,

like what sort of mindset we need to go out with. And definitely it will take some time, but I hope it comes back in the next game itself. Because there is time to turn the series around, but not that much time. So what's the message to your side to ensure that Bristol is more successful? It's important that we have a pattern set, especially while chasing or while batting first. We can't play in a certain rhythm.

We need to create that sort of tactical awareness when you're approaching the game. You need to be aware of what the wicket is doing or what sort of bowlers are going to bowl, how many overs they've bowled. So you need to pace your innings pretty well so that you set a platform for the next batsman to come in. I feel that right now we've been playing in a particular rhythm which is quite vivid, which we've been seeing in the last couple of months. We need to change the pattern.

We need to bring in more awareness about what we are doing. So I think all these small aspects, if they are taken care of, definitely it will turn into victory. Many thanks to your time. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. India playing this series with quite a few big names missing. and whether that's through retirement in the not too distant past or people being left out, Surikuma Yadev, the captain for the T20 World Cup win just earlier this year, left out of this team.

And I think that inexperience showed here today, and it has done across this tour so far. Let's bear in mind they lost two match series to Ireland, 2-0, and now they're 2-0 down with two to play against England here. And, yeah, I think they just showed a lack of experience in these conditions to, understand how to go about chasing a total like that on a ground like this at Trent Bridge with with very individualistic dimensions compared to other grounds in the world. Yeah, I think that lack of experience showed today. What did you think of England's score? 201 for seven. I felt as though having not

been down there to see the pitch, it felt as though it was around par. I think knowing how the game can get away from you quickly, especially in a chase here, it felt a round par. And I didn't see any signs of turn or variable bounce in the first innings, which said to me it was a good pitch, which meant that India could have given themselves time at the beginning of their innings. It was a shot of ball, wasn't it? It felt like it. So as a batter in that situation, are you just so committed to that game plan? You can't rein yourself back? Well, I suppose that that's where the lack of experience comes into play, because in the IPR where a lot of these guys have cut their teeth, not in international

cricket. To chase a score like that, you just have to go from the very beginning. And you get ahead of the rate and then it makes the middle of the innings manageable. Whereas here, as we saw with England in the first innings, you can afford to pace yourself for a little bit, even if it's just a couple of overs. Get used to the pace of the surface and then building to your innings and explode as it goes on. And that's where I think India got it wrong. They tried to go 100 miles an hour straight away and that was really challenging. Suri Vanchi, the big new star, teenager, a lot expected of him. but it's a lot to expect of him at his age.

You got a short ball from Archer. That was a good battle because they play at the same IPL franchise. Shortball, he went for the pull shot and gloved it. What did he make of that battle? Well, I think there'll be more of that to come. I think if Surrey Vanshi plays the rest of this series, I think Archer will continue to target him there. And clearly, the hardest thing about international cricket is there are loads of eyes on you at the IPL.

But when you play international cricket, teams will work you out. They'll talk about it. And this is now a challenge for him. He's been targeted similarly in the two games that he's played this series so far. I would expect that to continue. What he has to do is find a way to counter that. And I think he seems to me to be a problem solver even at such a young age. So it's going to be a good battle for the rest of this series.

England are 2-0 up with 2 to play. They cannot lose the series. They've got a chance to win it in Bristol on Thursday evening after a remarkable night at Trent Bridge. On BBC Sounds Five-Live Sports So here's the first ball of this series All the cricket you laugh Shack Rowley-Dabby-Dubble lives on BBC

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