Comprehensive England win sealed by Brook and Salt fireworks

Brook + Salt batting blitz Salt set the tone up top with aggressive strokeplay, and Brook finished it with power-hitting in the middle. India’s bowlers had no answers. England won comfortably — either chasing the target with plenty of balls/overs to spare, or posting a huge total India couldn’t chase. The result gave England an unassailable lead and the series win, showing their depth and firepower in white-ball cricket. Unbroken 146-run stand Brook and Salt took control after the early wicket. Salt finished it by knocking Arshdeep Singh to point and jogging through for the win with Brook. It followed Tuesday’s 125-run win at Trent Bridge — back-to-back demolitions. Since Brook took over as captain last year, England have won 19 of 22 completed T20Is. After a close game in Manchester, they’ve been clinical this week. Experience + clear plans. England’s lineup is packed with experience — 5 players have 60+ T20I caps. They’ve executed simple but effective plans to dismantle India’s bowling and batting. This was the first time in India's history that they had lost five successive men's T20Is, and the result leaves their new captain Shreyas Iyer under significant pressure barely two weeks into his tenure. "This is the transition phase and we will be making a lot of mistakes," he said. "Again, it was a disappointing one." Phil Salt had a slow start but then exploded. He was 0 off 9 balls before switching gears — reaching 26 off 19 with three fours in an over off Prince Yadav and Prasidh Krishna. Prince did bowl him with a perfect yorker, but it was a free hit due to an overstep on the previous ball, so Salt survived. Brook then added a trademark lap shot, and England reached 62/1 after the powerplay. Slow start from Salt, then a quick counter-attack. A free-hit reprieve and Brook’s aggression put England in control early. When Iyer turned to Washington Sundar's offbreaks, Brook sensed a moment to kill the game and seized it: he went four, six, four, then four in successive balls to take the required rate down to a run-a-ball, and soon reached a 21-ball fifty with a straight launch for six off Axar Patel. Salt reached his own off 34 balls by flicking Prasidh for four, and they never let up thereafter. Iyer's lone resistance He was the only Indian batter with real conviction. 44 of the 49 runs Adil Rashid conceded came off Iyer’s bat. Highlight: 6, 4, 6 in Rashid’s last over, the 18th. The two sixes were pure Iyer — dancing down and launching the leg-spinner over his head. England nailed the death. India got only 4 runs in each of the last 2 overs. Curran and Archer were perfect with slower balls and yorkers. Archer even ran out Axar with a side-footed finish off the last ball.Lack of support. England 159 for 1 (Brook 79*, Salt 59*) beat India 158 for 7 (Iyer 80*, Archer 2-20, Tongue 2-36) by nine wickets