Ever since the advent of Twenty20 cricket in 2005, the contest rapidly changed into a batsman’s playground. Flat pitches, shorter boundaries and thicker bats often led to big individual scores and Player of the Match awards.

But the just-concluded India-England Twenty20 International series was a refreshing testament to the fact that it is not always the “dominant breed” that rules the roost. Three matches, three Player of the Match awards and all three went to the bowlers. That is not something you get to see too often in this format of the game.

While Moeen Ali got the honour in the first T20I, the rest of the two awards were bagged by India’s pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal respectively.

But the Player of the Series award, deservedly received by India’s newfound leg-spin specialist, the lithe 26-year-old Chahal, proved that England’s backbone in the series was largely destroyed by the leg-spinners – Chahal and Amit Mishra.

Phenomenal Chahal

After the potentially game-changing 12th over bowled by Suresh Raina in the third T20I on Wednesday, where Morgan blasted him to all parts of the ground and extracted 22 runs, the leg-spin duo took the game by the scruff of the neck. From thereon, the role of the visiting batsmen was restricted to walking to and from the pitch. Wickets fell one after the other like a pack of cards on a beautiful batting surface.

England lost eight wickets for eight runs, redefining the word collapse. Chahal went on to produce a remarkable spell of 6/25, while Mishra continued to apply pressure on the batters. The hosts romped home by a huge margin in what was absolute comedy. Chahal’s 6/25 is the best by an India bowler and only the third-best in T20I history. No Indian bowler had taken a five-for before.

It was a phenomenal achievement from the 26-year-old. He did not stick to conventional bowling wisdom. The youngster bowled two spells, each very distinct from the other, and exhibited exceptional maturity in changing his plans as per the need of the match.

To dismiss the England skipper, Chahal bowled wide outside off stump, inviting him to slog and debutant Rishabh Pant held a neat catch. The very next ball was a mystery flipper that removed a well set Root on 42. Thereafter, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan all fell to the Haryana bowler. The 1.68 metre short leggie chose and executed his variations brilliantly. He showed a brave heart to use his top spinners and regularly mixed them up with with flippers and wrong-uns in between, thus deceiving the English batsme with perfectly timed variations.

This was preceded by Mishra’s 1/23, which laid the foundation for Chahal to wreak havoc on. The 34-year-old kept the score on check and tossed the ball whenever needed. Jason Roy, in the company of Joe Root scored fifty-plus in six overs, to prove dangerous to India. But Roy was foxed by Mishra into playing a false shot, giving up his wicket on 32. Though Chahal became the man of the moment with his flurry of wickets, Mishra was the unsung hero choking England in the middle overs which increased the run rate.

Remember Mishra’s contributions as well

Think back to the first T20I in Kanpur, where Parvez Rasool was played in place of Amit Mishra, and the latter’s absence was felt in India’s loss.

England openers Sam Billings and Jason Roy got the Three Lions off to a great start, but England suffered a setback, as Yuzvendra Chahal struck with two quick wickets to send back both Roy and Billings, and finishing with 2/27.

Rasool finished with 1/32, and failed to prove a better choice over Mishra. England outclassed India by seven wickets, with both the batting and bowling department disappointing.

Even though seamers had the final say at Nagpur in the second T20I, Mishra did a quiet job in the middle overs that went unnoticed. His instrumental figures of 1/25 included his 200th Twenty20 wicket which was that of Eoin Morgan.

In the 10th over, Mishra trumped Stokes with a peach of a delivery, where the Englishman failed to judge the drift and spin of the ball and lost his off-stump. However, it turned out that the leg-spinner had overstepped and was thus treated to a free-hit.

But keeping the pressure in the middle overs and breaking the Root-Morgan partnership was what kept India alive in the game.

Twenty20 and leg-spin – a magical relationship

If the leg-spinner is in control of his variations, and is consistent, he will be the biggest asset to a T20I team.

A leg-spinner’s merit to a team can never be undervalued, even on a spin-unfriendly pitch. He brings variety into action. He can bowl the flatter ball, the slider, the googly. The batsmen are more defensive against a leggie; very often they look to play out the leg-spinner and attack the other bowlers. This is because a leg-spinner can induce a moment of magic out of the blue and can completely change the course of the game. The India-England T20I series stands witness to this. With sharper bounce and big turn – a leggie can dismantle the batting line-up in a matter of few overs or even a few minutes.

Amit Mishra, for long, struggled to find a permanent place in the team. It used to be jokingly said that Mishra had more passport stamps than matches to his name, because he was benched on most of the tours. But now is the right time to give him his permanent place; for another global tournament is only a few months away.

Come the Champions Trophy this June, expect this current Indian team to be in the mix for the title, if not the favourites. If Virat Kohli’s team can dismantle a team which reached the World Twenty20 finals only 10 months ago, winning the Champions Trophy is very possible. Especially with scores in England soaring in the One-Day International format in recent times, having a leggie in the mix would prove to be handy to put the brakes on the opposition’s scoring rate.