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India vs England 1st T20I: All-round Hardik Pandya, clinical bowling hands visitors a solid 50-run win

Team India started the three-match series against England on a confident note with an emphatic 50-run win in the first T20I here at Rose Bowl on Thursday (July 7).

India vs England 1st T20I: All-round Hardik Pandya, clinical bowling hands visitors a solid 50-run win

Southampton, July 8: Team India started the three-match series against England on a confident note with an emphatic 50-run win in the first T20I here at Rose Bowl on Thursday (July 7).

India's top-order - which came out all guns blazing right from the start during the Ireland T20Is as well - started scoring aggressively in the powerplays and middle overs. Four of India's top five batters scored at a strike rate of 150-plus even as wickets continued to fall at the other end, showing a significant shift in their batting approach.

Rohit Sharma (24 off 14), Deepak Hooda (33 off 17), Suryakumar Yadav (39 off 19) and Hardik Pandya (51 off 33) and attacked every England bowler from the onset of the match. Hardik Pandya - who has been making the most of the opportunity to bat higher in the batting order - went on notching up his maiden T20I fifty off 30 balls and helped the visitors post a big total.

Axar Patel (17 off 12 balls) was promoted ahead of Dinesh Karthik but the move didn't pay off as the the run scoring slowed down for India after he walked into the middle. Karthik - who was kept in the dugout to provide that late impetus - failed to live up to the expectations and scored just 11.

India vs England 1st T20I: Full List of Award Winners, Man of the Match, Post-Match PresentationIndia vs England 1st T20I: Full List of Award Winners, Man of the Match, Post-Match Presentation

Although, English bowlers came back strongly in the death overs and ensured the Indians couldn't go past the 200-run mark, which was looking a certainty at the halfway mark, and the tourists looked 25 to 30 runs short. For England Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan were the pick of the wickets as the all-rounders bagged a couple of scalps each as the Men In Blue were restricted to 198/7 in 20 overs.

With the kind of batting attack England have, it seemed the hosts will give the Indians a run for their money in the run chase but it turned out to be a damp squib, courtesy of some fine piece of bowling first up. Indian bowlers did exceedingly well as they prevented English batters from scoring runs freely early on.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar - who has been India's leading wicket-taker in the powerplays - once again proved he's 'king of swing' and dismissed the opposition batter Jos Buttler with a beauty in the very first over. Once Buttler departed for a golden duck, the hosts were pushed onto the back foot.

Hardik Pandya. Image: BCCI

Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone were dismissed cheaply by Hardik Pandya inside the powerplay. While Jason Roy's struggle with bat ended when he was caught at thirdman by Harshal Patel off Pandya. Pandya then got the wicket of Sam Curran in the death over and Hardik thus became the first Indian to slam a fifty and bag a four-for in a T20I match.

Yuzvendra Chahal - who was slightly unlucky as several catches were put down off his bowling - picked up a couple of wickets. Young left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh - who made his debut in the game - got a late reward as he bagged his maiden international wicket by dismissing Reece Topley. The Punjab pacer - who swung the ball and bowled good bouncers in the game - started with a maiden over and finished with a couple of wickets.

Ali (36 off 20) and Harry Brook (28 off 23) were the only positives with the bat for England as they never got going infront of a quality bowling line-up and some brillaint captaincy moves from Rohit Sharma.

India might have won the game but fielding was a concern for the visitors as they dropped as many as six catches in the match. With a big total on the board and England batters' failure it didn't cost the Indians. Captain Rohit looked pretty satisfied with the clinical show but also pointed out that his team will look to come back strongly as a fielding unit in the remaining games.

Story first published: Friday, July 8, 2022, 2:57 [IST]
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