NOTTINGHAM: India captain Shreyas Iyer said his side had been “atrocious” after suffering their worst ever T20 defeat, in terms of runs, during a humiliating thrashing by England at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
T20 world champions India were blown away by fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue in a crushing 125-run loss.
England posted 201-7, with Phil Salt making 70 and T20 world champions India only just bettered the opener’s score while collapsing to 76 all out inside 12 overs.
Archer and Tongue were simply too much for India to handle, both quicks clocking more than 90 mph (145 kmh) on the speed gun, as they ripped through the tourists’ top-order with the new ball.
Tongue finished with career-best figures of 4-28 and Archer 3-29 as England went 2-0 up in the series with two to play after the opener was washed out.
Tuesday’s result comfortably surpassed India’s previous record run-loss in a T20, an 80-run defeat by New Zealand at Wellington in 2019.
It also followed India’s shock 2-0 series reverse against Ireland in Belfast last month.
“It was atrocious,” Iyer told Sky Sports “I can’t use a better word. Losing by such a big margin isn’t acceptable.
“Hard lengths helped the bowlers on this wicket, but we didn’t execute many. When you’re chasing, you have to set patterns for how to chase. We fell short, our execution was awful,” he added.
By contrast, England skipper Harry Brook said: “Salty played a mega innings… To get to 200 on a tricky surface was a phenomenal effort.”
Brook, turning to England’s efforts in the field, added: “We didn’t need to talk much before the chase, the bowlers knew exactly what we needed to hit the top of the stumps with the occasional bouncer. As simple as it sounds, it worked beautifully tonight.”
Archer hurried teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi with a 90 mph bouncer and then smiled when the 15-year-old somehow struck the next ball for six over gully.
Two of Tongue’s first three balls also went the distance but from then on it was one-way traffic.
Abhishek Sharma slashed to deep point, Sooryavanshi gloved behind as he tried to attack Archer’s next bouncer and Ishan Kishan found Jacob Bethell with a flat pull.
When Archer dismissed Iyer and Axar Patel, India were all but beaten at 52-5 from five overs.
Tilak Varma was stumped off Will Jacks before Tongue, on his Nottinghamshire home ground, removed Shivam Dube and dismissed Harshit Rana via Tom Banton’s diving catch at backward point.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid took two late wickets as India, who won the toss, only just beat their lowest T20 total of 74.
Earlier, Jos Buttler got England going with 36 before he was bowled by Prince Yadav’s in-swinging yorker.
Salt, after a sedate start, flayed several boundaries in an expensive over from Varun Chakravarthy, the opener launching a long-hop for six before hitting three successive fours in a 36-ball fifty. Sam Curran’s 41 not out boosted the total.
England can seal a series win with victory in the fourth T20 at Bristol on Thursday but Iyer said: “It’s a great opportunity to come back strong, not to dwell on what has happened in the past. We’ve played awful cricket but (there is) lots to learn as well.”
Scoreboard
ENGLAND:
P. Salt c Singh b Patel70
J. Buttler b Yadav36
H. Brook c Sharma b Yadav16
J. Bethell c Sooryavanshi b Rana13
T. Banton c Varun b Rana0
S. Curran not out41
W. Jacks run out14
J. Archer run out5
L. Dawson not out0
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-5)6
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs)201
DID NOT BAT: A. Rashid, J. Tongue
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-43 (Buttler), 2-71 (Brook), 3-111 (Bethell), 4-111 (Banton), 5-158 (Salt), 6-193 (Jacks), 7-199 (Archer)
BOWLING: Singh 4-1-36-0 (2w), Rana 4-0-40-2 (1w), Patel 4-0-49-1, Yadav 4-0-30-2 (1w), Dube 1-0-10-0 (1w), Varun 3-0-35-0
INDIA: A. Sharma c Salt b Tongue10
V. Sooryavanshi c Buttler b Archer13
I. Kishan c Bethell b Tongue13
S. Iyer c Bethell b Archer5
A. Patel c Buttler b Archer10
T. Varma st Buttler b Jacks3
H. Rana c Banton b Tongue9
S. Dube c Buttler b Tongue2
A. Singh c Buttler b Rashid4
V. Chakravarthy b Rashid5
P. Yadav not out2
TOTAL (all out, 11.4 overs)76
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-23 (Sharma), 2-29 (Sooryavanshi), 3-41 (Kishan), 4-41 (Iyer), 5-52 (Patel), 6-60 (Varma), 7-63 (Dube), 8-68 (Singh), 9-70 (Rana)
BOWLING: Archer 3-0-29-3, Tongue 4-0-28-4, Jacks 2-0-5-1, Rashid 2.4-0-14-2
RESULT: England won by 125 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Jofra Archer
Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2026
