India leave England with challenging task to square T20 series

A rousing start was provided by Virat Kohli, who made a brisk 38 in 20 balls while adding 57 runs with opener Gautam Gambhir (17) for the second wicket.

But India lost their way a bit with the fall of four wickets between the seventh and 15th overs before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (38 off 18) and Suresh Raina (35 not out off 24) provided the late spark with a sixth-wicket partnership of 60 runs in just 27 balls.

Among the other top order batsmen, Rohit Sharma made a 19-ball 24 but Ajinkya Rahane and Yuvraj Singh, who was the Man of the Match in the series opener at Pune, failed.

Opting to field, England bowlers started on a disciplined note before falling apart in the face Dhoni and Raina's late assault. They, though, fielded brilliantly right through.

Tim Bresnan was easily the best bowler with figures of one for 27, identical to spinner James Tredwell, while Stuart Meaker leaked 42 runs for a single wicket.

Kohli hit seven fours and once he fell after making use of the power play overs, England took control with some brilliant out-fielding, before Dhoni and Raina wrested back the advantage.

The arrival of Kohli after the fall of Rahane gave the Indian innings the push they needed, with the Delhi batsman looking in superb nick from the first ball he faced.

Kohli started by striking two fours off Jade Dernbach.

When Luke Wright replaced Dernbach to bowl the sixth and last power play over Kohli went berserk, cracking the bowler for four boundaries, that helped India race to 59 for one.

In the previous over Meaker started with four wides and then conceded two boundaries -