MANCHESTER: Teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his international debut for India on Saturday but England young gun Jacob Bethell ensured it was the hosts who won the second T20 at Old Trafford.

At just 15 years and 99 days old, Sooryavanshi replaced batting great Sachin Tendulkar as India’s youngest men’s player and marked his entrance onto the world stage with two stunning sixes as he scored 14 from 10 balls. Yet it was fellow left-handed batsman Bethell, a relative veteran at the age 22, who made the match-clinching contribution as England went 1-0 up in a five-match series following Wednesday’s washout in Durham.

England were faltering at 51-3, chasing 191 for victory, when Bethell walked out to bat but he responded with an expertly-paced 76 not out to take his side to a four-wicket win.

Bethell hit five fours and five sixes in his 46-ball innings as England won with an over to spare.

Earlier, Sooryavanshi opened in front of a majority Indian crowd in Manchester.

He forced his way into the squad for the limited-overs trip following stunning displays in the IPL, where he emerged as the leading batsman this season with 776 runs for the Rajasthan Royals.

After being left on the sidelines for India’s shock 2-0 series loss to Ireland in Belfast and Wednesday’s series opener, he finally made his international bow in Manchester. He sent his fourth ball soaring over fine leg for six off Royals team-mate Jofra Archer, stooping down on to one knee before he played a modified sweep shot off England’s fastest bowler.

His seventh delivery also cleared the ropes, fellow debutant Josh Tongue banging out a good length yet still seeing the ball struck with incredible bat speed into the stands at wide long-on.

But spinner Will Jacks had a charging Sooryavanshi stumped by Jos Buttler as the batter lost his balance. Abishek Sharma looked dangerous before he holed out off a low full toss from Sam Curran for 43, with the left-arm paceman also removing Ishan Kishan (49) and Shivam Dube (five) on his way to 3-33.

Arshdeep Singh then gave India renewed hope of victory by having openers Phil Salt and Buttler caught for ducks in the first over of the chase.

But England captain Harry Brook counter-attacked with 39 in 15 balls. With 49 required off 24 balls, England had work to do until Bethell’s assault on Bishnoi.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

A. Sharma c Banton b Curran43

V. S’vanshi st Buttler b Jacks14

I. Kishan c Dawson b Curran49

S. Iyer c Banton b Dawson37

S. Dube c Banton b Curran5

T. Varma not out24

A. Patel run out2

H. Rana c Buttler b Archer6

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-9)10

TOTAL (for 7 wkts, 20 overs)190

DID NOT BAT: R. Bishnoi, A. Singh, V. Chakravarthy

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50 (S’vanshi), 2-65 (Sharma), 3-130 (Iyer), 4-146 (Dube), 5-157 (Kishan), 6-165 (Patel), 7-190 (Rana)

BOWLING: Archer 4-0-40-1, Tongue 4-0-46-0 (2w), Jacks 3-0-22-1, Curran 4-0-33-3 (3w), Dawson 3-0-27-1, Rashid 2-0-21-0

ENGLAND:

P. Salt c Kishan b Singh0

J. Buttler c Varun b Singh0

H. Brook c Kishan b Patel39

J. Bethell not out76

T. Banton c Varma b Singh39

W. Jacks lbw b Varun9

S. Curran c S’vanshi b Rana7

J. Archer not out10

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-3, W-4)11

TOTAL (for 6 wkts, 19 overs)191

DID NOT BAT: L. Dawson, A. Rashid, J. Tongue

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Salt), 2-1 (Buttler), 3-51 (Brook), 4-118 (Banton), 5-133 (Jacks), 6-179 (Curran)

BOWLING: Singh 4-0-40-3 (1w), Rana 3-0-30-1 (1w), Bishnoi 4-0-60-0 (2w, 3nb), Patel 4-0-20-1, Varun 4-0-37-1

RESULT: England won by four wickets.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Jacob Bethell

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2026