England beat India by eight wickets to win the 1st T20I in Ahmedabad in a rather dominating fashion. They take a 1-0 lead in the series and have made a resounding comeback after losing the Test series. Eoin Morgan’s men completely outplayed India in every department of the game and in the process, displayed some entertaining cricket. More about the 1st T20I report in detail below.
England played like true champions as they made an easy task of chasing 125 to win the first T20I of the five-match series. The England bowlers set up the game by restricting India to 124. Jofra Archer took three wickets as Virat Kohli scored a duck. Eoin Morgan said that he planned to attack the Indian batters with pace and the bowlers responded beautifully. Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 67. Rishabh Pant (21) and Hardik Pandya’s contribution (19) was never really enough for the team.
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Clinical England Roll Past India in 1st T20I
It was a clinical effort from the England bowlers who never allowed India to get a move on. Jofra Archer gave England the early breakthrough and ended with three in his spell. English bowlers attacked India with raw pace with Archer, Mark Wood, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes all bowling together. Adil Rashid accounted for Kohli’s wicket. Jordan Wood and Stokes picked up a wicket each.
India decided to rest Rohit Sharma for the first game. Shikhar Dhawan (4) and KL Rahul (1) opened for India and both fell cheaply. India were 22 for 3 inside the powerplay and didn’t really recover. This triggered Indian fans to target the management for resting Rohit despite him being in form. The television commentators also pointed out the same while adding that both players needed to give themselves a bit more time before playing big shots.
When it was England’s turn to chase the score down, Jason Roy’s 49 and Jos Buttler’s 28 paved the way for the visitors. They added 72 for the first wicket inside eight overs, killing the game then and there. Jonny Bairstow, unlike his Test form, tonked the ball right from the start and scored an unbeaten 26. Dawid Malan playing for the first time in Indian conditions scored an unbeaten 24. England chased the score down in just 15.3 overs.
All the Indian bowlers were taken around the park with Yuzvendra Chahal going for 44 off his four. He and Washington Sundar took a wicket each but that did not stop the visitors from winning the game comfortably.
Both these teams meet in a day’s time for the second T20I on Sunday. India will need to do a lot of rethinking on their approach to batting while England will look for consistency.
England 130 for 2 (Roy 49, Buttler 28, Sundar 1-18) beat India 124 for 7 (Iyer 67, Pant 21, Archer 3-23, Rashid 1-14) by eight wickets
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