KOLKATA: It was a cakewalk for the T20 World Cup champions as India walloped England by seven wickets in the first of five T20I matches at the Eden Gardens here on Wednesday.
Opener Abhishek Sharma's belligerent 34-ball 79 saw India reach the victory target of 133 runs with 43 balls and seven wickets remaining. Earlier, the Indian spinners bowled out the rivals for 132 runs in 20 overs. Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakravarthy bowled in tandem to run through a power-packed English batting lineup after Surya won the toss and decided to field first.
India's only specialised pacer in the side, Arshdeep Singh, set the tone by removing both openers cheaply. The left-arm pacer induced England opener Phil Salt, caught off-guard both by the pace and bounce, to get a leading edge off the third ball of the match for Samson to take an easy catch behind the wicket. He struck in the very next over to dismiss Ben Duckett as Rinku Singh took a good running catch backward at cover. Finishing with 2/17 in his four overs, Arshdeep also entered the record books by becoming India's leading wicket-taker in T20Is, surpassing Yuzvendra Chahal's 96 wickets.
Also See:
ICC Champions Trophy 2025Chakravarthy came in to bowl in the sixth over after Hardik Pandya, sharing the new ball with Arshdeep, went for 27 runs in two overs. The Tamil Nadu spinner struck hard, dismissing Brook and Liam Livingstone clean bowled off consecutive deliveries in his second over. Much was expected of Jacob Bethell after the youngster made blistering international debuts in all three formats of the game last year. But Bethell found it difficult to put bat on ball and Pandya finally had him caught by Sharma at deep mid-wicket on his return for a second spell.
Only England skipper Jos Buttler stood tall at one end. Coming one down, he feasted on Pandya, hitting him for two fours in the pacer's first over and four more off his second. But once he was caught by Nitish Kumar Reddy at deep square leg while trying to pull a short one from Chakravarthy for a polished 66 off 44 balls, the end was a foregone conclusion.
Samson and Sharma gave India a flying start, getting 10 runs an over. Although Jofra Archer picked up Samson and Surya in the same over, Sharma went berserk, hitting Mark Wood for a four and two sixes in the very next over. England's lone specialist spinner Adil Rashid dropped a caught and bowled chance off Sharma in his first over, but the left-hander replied strongly, hitting him for a four and two sixes to reach his half-century off just 20 balls. The 24-year-old Punjab batter eventually fell after hitting five fours and eight sixes.
Start a Conversation
Post comment