Generally, when Nasser Hussain talks, the cricketing world sits up and takes notice.
While he might forever be living down that infamous 2002 decision to bowl first at the Gabba - not that England have fared any better there since - the words of the 57-year-old, now one of the game’s most respected voices, still carry plenty of weight.
As such, when he referred to Trent Bridge as “a venue that very rarely disappoints in white-ball cricket” after an all-time classic IT20 between England and India in 2022, he succinctly and truthfully summed up a game that had seen everything.
A 48-ball century from Suryakumar Yadav that featured what Cricinfo described as “shots that defied the limitations of physics and human strength,” lit up India’s chase of the hosts’ imposing 215-7.
However, a crucial final over from Chris Jordan, backing up 3/22 from his domestic teammate, and player of the match, Reece Topley, saw England claim a nail-biting 17 run win.
While it was merely a consolation victory for Jos Buttler’s troops as India took the three-match series 2-1, a glorious midsummer afternoon in Nottingham had seen 413 runs and 16 wickets combined across 240 balls of thrilling entertainment.
Such pyrotechnics were on the cards from the start as, following a typically explosive nine-ball 18 from Buttler to jump-start the innings, Jason Roy and Dawid Malan took England to 52-1 after just six overs.
Malan’s 77 underpinned the England innings, and he received strong support from Liam Livingstone’s 42 from 29.
A particularly crucial period in the duo’s partnership, which was worth 82 from 42 balls for the fourth wicket, came between the 12th and 14th overs, when they combined to add 44.
In the first half of their innings, England had managed more than ten runs off a single over on only three occasions, a period in which they also lost a triumvirate of wickets.
Following the halfway point, at which the hosts were well positioned but not spectacularly so at 86-3, Malan and Livingstone achieved it four times in succession without any loss.
After 10 overs, England had been forecast to set a total of 179; by the time Malan and Livingstone had been parted, that had climbed to 206.
The pair of short-format specialists provided the most crucial intervention of all.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi bit back in the 17th over by claiming two wickets, including Malan who was caught off a near-vertical top-edge, but only after the Yorkshire batter had added 27 from his last nine balls.
The searing weather was neatly summed up by a brief break in the last over of England’s innings caused by a spectator fanning herself behind the bowler’s arm.
And, in prime batting conditions, England continued to scorch through the runs.
Jordan struck right-arm quick Umran Malik for a six and a four to take the hosts up to a total of 215-7. If India were to chase it down, the Trent Bridge crowd would be about to witness the eighth-highest successful IT20 pursuit of all time.
However, the initial hopeful mood emanating from the visiting support was heavily dampened at the end of the tourists’ powerplay.
In a far cry from England’s first six overs, India were 34-3 at the same point as Reece Topley and David Willey took out their star-studded top order of Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, and captain Rohit Sharma.
Yet, if there’s one thing that T20 cricket teaches you, especially at Trent Bridge, it is that games change in a flash. The gravity-defying Suryakumar certainly made sure of that.
Out of a teeter came a confident, swashbuckling counterattack. By the halfway point, the game was back in the balance as India reached 82-3, just four short of where England were at the same point.
It was part of a wider stand of 119 for the fourth wicket between Suryakumar and Shreyas Iyer, who combined for eight sixes to push the hosts’ earlier big partnership into the shade.
The tables were firmly turning, and the hallmarks of another Trent Bridge thriller were beginning to emerge, as Livingstone’s second over - the 13th of the innings - was pumped for 21 before Jordan followed by conceding 15 from the next.
It left India, with fresh impetus, needing another 84 to win from the final 36 balls; a difficult pursuit, yes, but by no means insurmountable, with Suryakumar especially flying at 78 off 42.
Iyer was dismissed by the returning Topley in a timely intervention, with the seamer showcasing an unflappability under pressure to concede just five from the 16th over.
But Moeen Ali’s second over - the penultimate of the innings - began with two wides and three boundaries. Suryakumar, with all the might of a man fighting his cause solo, brought the equation back down to 25 off nine.
Eminently doable… until the defining moment. In a flash, Moeen offered up a wider length ball, and Suryakumar, having played the game of cat-and-mouse so well up to that point, blinked first.
Phil Salt gratefully smothered the catch, and India’s key man, though universally applauded from the field, was gone.
In one final twist, England were forced to complete the match with an extra fielder inside the ring due to the fact they breached the cut-off time for the innings, but it was moot in any event.
Jordan, having delivered some vital blows with the bat in the final over of England’s innings, produced more skill at the death, nailing four inch-perfect yorkers to suffocate any hope India had.
The seamer had conceded just four and England had done it; a consolation it was, but a win nevertheless.
Though many of the old faces will have moved on by the time India return to Trent Bridge next summer, the heat of battle will remain just as intense.
Secure your seats for the next instalment here…
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