In his first international in India, Brydon Carse stepped up as England's do-it-all man. Having replaced Gus Atkinson, Carse came in at 104 for 6 in the 13th over on a challenging, grippy Chepauk pitch, and hauled England to a competitive 165 for 9 with his 31 off 17 balls. He then silenced the crowd again with three wickets, including that of India captain Suryakumar Yadav, to go with a catch in the outfield to dismiss Sanju Samson. According to ESPNcricinfo's Smart Stats, Carse had a total impact of 138.66, almost 62 points more than Player-of-the-Match Tilak Varma (76.69).
Carse, 29, has had a circuitous route to the England team. He was born in South Africa and qualified to play for England, through his British passport, in 2019, and then made his international debut two years later in an ODI against Pakistan as a replacement player after a Covid-19 outbreak. When he was in the Test selection frame later in 2021, he suffered a serious knee injury and was sidelined from England Lions' tour of Australia.
Carse had to wait until 2024 to make his Test debut after having served a three-month gambling ban. He was handed a 16-month suspension from cricket, in 2024, with 13 of those suspended, after it was discovered that he had placed over 300 bets on matches between 2017 and 2019.
After a rousing start to Test cricket - he has picked up 27 wickets in five games - England have now welcomed him back into white-ball cricket as well.
Brendon McCullum rates him highly and Carse showed why on Saturday. At 6 feet 3 inches, he uses his reach to convert good-length deliveries into hittable ones. With the ball, he can relentlessly dig the ball into the pitch and get it to skid off it. Carse can also hide the ball away from batters' swinging arcs with his defensive skills, as he showed during his title-winning stint with Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20 2022-23.
With England leaning towards taller, hit-the-deck allrounders in Carse and Jamie Overton, Sam Curran now finds himself out of the national set-up. He's been at it in the UAE's ILT20, though, for Desert Vipers. On Saturday, thousands of miles away in Sharjah, Curran guided Vipers to victory with his unbeaten 54 off 34 balls and figures of 4-0-26-0.
Carse hailed England's all-format depth and saw the competition as a healthy sign. "I think the English stock of fast bowlers at the minute in white and red ball is pretty high, and I think competition for places is good," Carse said at his post-match press conference on Saturday. "Every time you pull on an England shirt, you try and put in a good performance, but you know that there's guys waiting in the wings."
The rest of the England batters have struggled to get India's mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy away in the two T20Is so far, but Carse managed to pick him off for back-to-back sixes, including a one-handed hit over long leg. Carse also attacked Axar Patel, stepping out to the left-arm fingerspinner and launching him over long-on for six. Carse's knock, though, was cut short on 31 after a mix-up with Jofra Archer.
"I felt in good rhythm," Carse said. "Again, I was always going to be trying to be positive towards the spinners and pick my strong areas, and tonight that paid off.
"It's always frustrating to get run out, but those things happen. A little bit of miscommunication from both of us, but I've spoken to Jof, and he's fine, and the game goes on."
"We haven't put a complete performance," says the England allrounder
Archer was then taken to the cleaners in the chase, finishing with 4-0-60-1, his worst T20 figures, with Tilak, in particular, using his pace and bounce to pepper the area behind square. Carse refused to read too much into it and suggested that conceding runs in that area was an occupational hazard of being a fast bowler in T20 cricket.
"He was pretty unfortunate," Carse said of Archer. "I think there was… I don't know the exact number, but a lot of runs over the keeper's head behind square. I suppose that sometimes happens when you bowl 90 miles an hour."
After losing the first two T20Is, England now have no margin for error and will have to win three in a row if they are to clinch the series. Having made India dig deep at Chepauk, Carse is confident of a turnaround.
"Hundred per cent, yeah [we can win the series]. Inside that changing room there tonight, obviously the guys are a little bit down, but I think ultimately as a whole, I think it's pretty evitable that the performance tonight was a lot better than the other night. But again, we haven't put a full, complete performance in, so it's exciting to see. Hopefully next game, we can put everything together."
The current England regime always knew Carse was this good. India's will now be more wary of his all-round skills. Perhaps, the Indian spectators will get to see more of those skills when he turns out for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2025.