Clinical India toy with England in first T20I

India put on a professional display at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata to win the first T20I against England on Wednesday, January 22. The comprehensive performance helped the Men in Blue take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

After Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and invited England to bat first, Arshdeep Singh made good use of the new ball as he dismissed openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett in his first couple of overs. England captain Jos Buttler took the attack to Hardik Pandya, who shared the new ball with Arshdeep. After losing two quick wickets, the Three Lions recovered nicely thanks to the 48-run partnership between Buttler and Harry Brook.

However, Varun Chakravarthy wrestled the momentum back in India’s favour as he dismissed Brook and Liam Livingstone in the eighth over. Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton departed in quick succession as they tried to hit the big shots instead of consolidating the innings alongside their captain. Buttler was playing a fine innings from the other end but he wasn’t get too much of the strike.

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Chakravarthy gave India a huge breakthrough when he dismissed Buttler for a brilliant 44-ball 68. However, a lot of the credit for the dismissal has to be given to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who took a stunning catch diving forward.

England were bowled out for 132 in 20 overs as Chakravarthy starred with a three-for. Arshdeep, Hardik, and Axar Patel supported him nicely by taking two wickets each. Ravi Bishnoi went wicketless but bowled economically.

In reply, India got off to a flying start as Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma added 41 runs off just 26 balls. Jofra Archer struck twice in the fifth over as he dismissed Samson and Suryakumar. However, Abhishek didn’t allow England to build any sort of pressure as he hit two sixes and a boundary off the following over bowled by Mark Wood.

The boundaries kept coming for Abhishek as he didn’t spare any bowler apart from Archer, who finished with figures of 2/21. When the Punjab batter was eventually dismissed, he had already scored a breathtaking 79 off 34 balls. He belted five fours and eight sixes during his knock.

Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on 19 off 16 balls alongside Hardik (3*) as India reached home with seven wickets and 7.1 overs to spare.

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