Brief Scores from India vs England 1st T20I: India 124/7 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 67; Jofra Archer 3/23, Mark Wood 1/20, Adil Rashid 1/14)
England 130/2 in 15.3 overs (Jason Roy 49, Jos Buttler 28; Washington Sundar 1/28, Yuzvendra Chahal 1/44)
It was certainly an off day for the Men in Blue in the opening match of the 5-match T20Is as they now lag by a margin of 1-0. Being forced to bat first, the hosts clearly looked uncomfortable from the first over itself and eventually lost three wickets in the first 5 overs.
KL Rahul (1) was followed by skipper Virat Kohli, who scored his second consecutive duck in international cricket, and before Team India could grab hold of the proceedings they lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (4) to an incoming Mark Wood delivery.
The trio of Rishabh Pant (21), Shreyas Iyer (67) and Hardik Pandya (19) emerged as the top-scorers for India that eventually propelled them to a score of 124 in 20 overs. England bowled exceptionally well, with pacers Jofra Archer (3/23) and Mark Wood (1/20) making the most of the uneven bounce offered.
The Eoin Morgan-captained side didn’t find much difficulty in chasing down the target, as their openers Jason Roy (49) and Jos Buttler (28) got the team to a much-desired start, that was followed by a finish from Dawid Malan (24*) and Jonny Bairstow (26*).
Here are the talking points from India vs England 1st T20I –
English bowlers dominate the gameplay
Jofra Archer’s opening spell in the second over of the innings set India on the back foot as he plucked the wicket of an in-form KL Rahul (1) on an inside edge that dragged on to the stumps.
Immediately in the over that followed, Adil Rashid, who was bowling his second over, got the prized wicket of Virat Kohli on a duck thereby bringing the score to 3/2 in 2.3 overs. Rishabh Pant opted for an aggressive approach to keep the runs incoming for the hosts, however, his partnership with Shikhar Dhawan didn’t last enough as the latter was bowled out on an incoming bumper delivery from pacer Mark Wood that clicked 148 kmph.
Ben Stokes got the better of Pant on the final delivery of the tenth over, forcing him for a leg-side flick. Archer, bowling in the 18th over, bagged two more wickets – Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur, on consecutive deliveries. And finally, it was Chris Jordan, who sensed that Iyer would anyway loft the deliveries out of the fence in the final over, bowled a slower bouncer to get him out to Dawid Malan positioned at square leg.
Shreyas Iyer shines in the middle
If not for the No 5 batter then India would have found it difficult to get past 120-runs in the concluded event.
Coming in to bat when the scorecard read 20/3 at the end of five overs, Iyer showed maturity from the first delivery, took his time, before unleashing an attack onto the English bowlers. Regardless of the uneven bounce offered, the Mumbaikar managed to smash his highest score in the T20 Internationals, a 48-ball 67, comprising 8 fours and a six, while striking at a rate close to 140.
Iyer stitched a 28 run stand alongside Pant for the fourth wicket, then forged a decent 54 run partnership with Hardik Pandya for the fifth wicket. He was eventually dismissed in the final over while trying to tonk a slower delivery from Jordan over square leg only to find Dawid Malan adding a splendid catch to his name.
Indian bowlers fail to create wicket-taking opportunities
While the target was lesser than the competitive total in the last few T20s at this venue, Indian bowlers couldn’t make many dents in the English lineup. Only two wickets fell during England’s innings.
Yuzvendra Chahal (1/44) finished with expensive figures in his quota of four overs, however, the leggie managed to register a feat of scalping the most wickets for India in the T20 Internationals (60), surpassing Jasprit Bumrah’s tally of 59 wickets. Washington Sundar (1/18), who was introduced in the 12th over, was the other wicket-taker in the Indian bowling lineup.
Axar Patel remained wicketless in the three overs. Even the pace trio of Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya failed to scalp any tally to their name.
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Roy, Buttler set the winning foundation
England started the innings slowly but paced up as the match progressed. And at one point, it seemed that the visitors might finish the run-chase without losing a wicket.
Although a highly aggressive batsman, Jos Buttler opted for a reserved approach in the concluded outing in his stay at the crease, scoring 28 off 24 deliveries with 2 fours and a six. Buttler added 72 runs for the opening partnership alongside Jason Roy, who went berserk from the third over, smashing a six and a four to Yuzvendra Chahal.
Roy played the spin well, with the majority of his runs coming through slog sweeps, and went on to contribute 49 runs to the team’s tally before being plumbed LBW to spinner Washington Sundar. The likes of Jonny Bairstow (26*) and Dawid Malan (24*) then pulled the chase closer with an unbeaten 41-run stand, courtesy of the boundary hitting post Roy’s departure to set an 8-wicket win.
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