Dinesh Karthik captains India to consecutive warm-up wins ahead of T20Is vs England

Team India finished on a high in the two warm-up games ahead of the T20I series against England, even though the second one needed some deep grinding. It would eventually be the collective efforts that would be spearheaded by two Challengers to seal the fate. Here's what unfolded in the warm-up games under the leadership of Dinesh Karthik.

Match 1 – India vs Derbyshire, India won by 7 wickets

Karthik won the toss and on a surface that produced some initial swing, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh struck a couple of early scalps to set the tone of the game for the Indians. It wasn’t just the Indian bowling that would leave the hosts crumbling but a string of electric fielding displays from the visitors would also produce a couple of run-outs to confine Derbyshire within 150. Despite the early departure of Gaikwad, Sanju Samson continued with his decent form while Deepak Hooda chimed in with another swashbuckling half-century to derail the opposition. Suryakumar Yadav would whip a seraphic knock towards the close while Dinesh Karthik dropped anchor at the other end to guide India home.

Match 2 – India vs Northamptonshire, India won by 10 runs

Despite a breezy victory in the opener, India would suddenly start crumbling in the second game with their top three falling for a paltry 8 while Ishan Kishan would depart in a while, leaving the scorecard teetering at 51 for 4. It would be another special knock from DK to help India stabilize their ship while a Harshal special at the death producing a 36-ball-54 would propel India to a fighting 149. However, the Indian bowlers were on their money right from the word go as wickets kept on tumbling at regular intervals while a desperate attempt to stretch the game till the finishing end from Saif Zaib would eventually meet its conclusion at the hands of a soaring Harshal Patel who would rattle his timbre to cap off a very special Man-of-the-Match performance, ushering India to a narrow win.

As Team India in whites look to pull off a historic series win in England, the white-ball leg of the tour is scheduled to begin on the 7th of July.