England looked set to level the T20I series against India, only for Tilak Varma to power his side over the line with two balls to spare.

Tilak Varma stole the show as his unbeaten 72 edged India to a nervy two-wicket victory over England in Saturday's second T20I clash.

India snatched a 2-0 lead in the five-match series after Tilak's inspirational innings helped the hosts over the line with just four balls to spare in Chennai.

England had earlier been placed into bat first, with Jos Buttler's 45 the top score from Brendon McCullum's visitors, who posted 166-8 from their 20-over allocation after some lower-order hitting.

Phil Salt and Ben Duckett were both dismissed cheaply by Arshdeep Singh and Washington Sundar respectively, before Harry Brook made just 13 en route to being bowled by the impressive Varun Chakravarthy.

Buttler steadied the ship but fell to Axar Patel, who also claimed the dangerous Liam Livingstone on 13, before Jamie Smith's 22 and a 17-ball 31 from Brydon Carse helped England to a respectable total.

Tilak could only watch on as wickets and runs flowed around him in equal measure, Carse offering the most visiting resistance as his 3-31 included the dismissals of Suryakumar Yadav, Dhruv Jurel and Sundar.

All-rounder Sundar still managed a key 26 runs before his removal left India 116-6, though Tilak took centre stage by combining with the lower order to see the home side over the line with his eye-catching knock.

England, who were hammered on Wednesday at Eden Gardens, will have to regroup before Tuesday's next clash at Rajkot if they are to have any chance of salvaging this T20I series.

Data Debrief: Buttler milestone in vain

Buttler became the first England player, and sixth from any country overall, to score 3,500 runs in men's T20Is on Saturday – he has also now managed 611 runs against India in the format, his most against an opponent after surpassing his 584 when facing Australia.

However, it was the youthful excellence of Tilak that this Chennai encounter will be remembered for. The 22-year-old posted his fourth half-century in this format, with his 55-ball knock including four fours and five maximums.

In contrast, it was an outing to forget for Jofra Archer, whose four overs were bludgeoned for 60 runs, the most of any bowler in this clash.

Archer may have been looking on with envy at how Arshdeep opened the bowling for the hosts, the India bowler taking his 98th wicket by dismissing Salt to move two away from becoming his country's first centurion in the format.