Jacob Bethell fired an unbeaten 76 off 46 balls as England beat India by four wickets in the second T20I at Old Trafford, spoiling Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's international debut as the 15-year-old made history in Manchester.
Sooryavanshi became India's youngest-ever player - surpassing the great Sachin Tendulkar, who was 16 when making his Test debut in 1989 - and promptly hit two huge sixes in a 10-ball cameo before being stumped by Jos Buttler for 14.
Chasing 191, England's pursuit got off to a horror start when Phil Salt and Buttler both departed for ducks in Arshdeep Singh's opening over, but Harry Brook proceeded to smash 26 from five balls off his next to swiftly have the home side back on track.
Brook (39 off 15 balls) did not hang around much longer, but Bethell, after first putting on 67 with Tom Banton (39 off 32), blasted England to victory - with Ravi Bishnoi's 17th over that cost 29 the turning point.
It means England take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after .
India opted to make a change to their XI as they searched for a spark following their shock series defeat to Ireland that preceded the wash out in the North East, with Sooryavanshi handed his much-anticipated debut in place of Sanju Samson.
Samson had smashed 89 off 42 balls in knocking England out of the T20 World Cup semi-finals in March, but he was the unfortunate party to make way for the teenage batting phenom who took the 2026 IPL by storm, smashing a tournament-leading 776 runs at a staggering 237.30 strike-rate.
The fans in attendance at Old Trafford were treated only to a glimpse of his talent, as he hit his first maximum in international cricket off his Rajasthan Royals team-mate Jofra Archer, back in the England side after being rested in Durham.
Josh Tongue was similarly spared from the series opener, but made his T20I debut here and was also given the treatment by Sooryavanshi for his second six, powerfully pulled over deep midwicket.
It prompted England to introduce spin early and it had the desired effect as Will Jacks (1-22) and Buttler combined to have Sooryavanshi stumped in the fifth over.
India did not take a backwards step despite the blow, with Ishan Kishan (49 off 40), Abhishek Sharma (43 off 24) and captain Shreyas Iyer (37 off 22) all enjoying themselves on a belting batting surface.
Sam Curran (3-33) accounted for two of them - Abhishek and Kishan both holing out in the deep - and added Shivam Dube (5) cheaply to help swing the momentum back England's way.
Curran came close to adding a fourth when Archer appeared to have taken a terrific diving catch to dismiss Tilak Varma at deep midwicket, only for an umpire's review to deem the effort to have been grounded.
It proved a costly call for England, as did a wide given against Tongue that forced him to bowl an extra delivery in the penultimate over of the innings. Harshit Rana (6) smacked that one for six, before Tilak (24 off 11) then scored 16 off the first three balls of Archer's last to lift India up to 190-7.
England posted their record T20 total of 304 on the same ground against South Africa less than a year ago, with Salt smashing an unbeaten 141 from 60 balls and Buttler chipping in with 83 off 30.
It could not have been in starker contrast to England's start to their run chase, with both dismissed within five balls of Arshdeep's opening over.
Salt was gone for a golden duck, flashing a thick edge behind, while Buttler perished to a sharp Varun Chakravarthy catch at midwicket.
But from being 1-2 at the end of the first over, England were suddenly 38-2 after three as Brook launched a blistering assault on Arshdeep's second, scoring 4-4-6-6-6 off the final five balls.
Brook feathered a glove down leg off Axar Patel (1-20), detected by DRS, to see him depart in the fifth over, but Bethell and Banton kept things ticking over with a vital fifty partnership for the fourth wicket.
England had another wobble when Banton and Jacks (9) departed in quick succession, and 58 runs were still required off 28 balls with the fall of the latter.
But little more than an over later the game was all but won as Bishnoi endured a nightmare 17th, bowling his second and third back-foot no-balls of the day, with both subsequent free-hits struck for six by Bethell as he hit three in the over.
Curran (7) fell just short of the victory target, allowing Archer to come in and crack the winning runs to see England into a series lead.
Your Site Cricket's Michael Atherton:
"Lots of talk coming into this about the young Indian left-hander [Sooryavanshi].
"But at the end, it's a young English left-hander Jacob Bethell - who played so well in that World Cup semi-final, but couldn't get them home - who has got England home today.
"It was a case of two big overs, really: the one that went for 27 from Arshdeep Singh in the powerplay and that 17th over [from Bishnoi].
"You cannot offer players two free hits at that stage in the innings, but Bethell took full advantage of it.
"He showed his class and his composure today - an excellent young player."
India captain Shreyas Iyer:
"I feel [Sooryavanshi] has that unflinching attitude where he's fearless. The way he approaches his game, it's sensational to watch.
"The way he bats in the nets, I think we can learn from him.
"I wasn't expecting him to be nervous, because he's played sensational cricket for the last couple of months and years.
"We all know what he's got to offer as an individual.
"I definitely back him, and the way he stepped up to this occasion was pleasing to the eye."
Watch the third T20 international between England and India on Tuesday, live on Your Site Cricket from 5pm (first ball 5.30pm). .
