IND vs ENG 1st T20I Review: India’s white-ball leg begins with a humbling defeat to clinical England

53

Virat Kohli and co. were brought down to Earth in a swift matter after their Test series triumph. Much like the longest format, India have been outplayed in the first contest and now have a deficit to overcome. England were at their clinical best and came out with a decisive win in the first contest of the five-match series. 

After hosting its maiden tests, the Narendra Modi stadium was put to test in the shortest format ahead of a busy year starting with the IPL.

England won the toss and had no hesitation to bowl first. Armed with a strong batting unit, Eoin Morgan fielded a lone spinner in the form of Adil Rashid while the pace battery comprised of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes.

Virat Kohli, who had revealed the opening pair to be Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for the first T20, changed his stance by resting The Hitman. Shikhar Dhawan was slotted in to open alongside the Kings XI Punjab skipper.

The Indian team were taken back to the pink ball test with their top-order collapse. Jofra Archer struck with the second ball of his spell to castle KL Rahul, while Dhawan struggled for his 4 off 12 balls.

Virat Kohli’s leanest patch of his career agonisingly prolonged with yet another duck to his name. Delhi Capitals duo Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant coasted the side till the end of the powerplay.

After exhibiting an array of strokeplay, which included a mind-boggling reverse sweep off Archer, Pant was dismissed in the 10th over for 21.

Shreyas Iyer recorded his highest ever T20I score and managed to score more than half of the team total. India ended up with a below-par 123-7 with Iyer scoring 67 off 48 deliveries.

Chasing just 124 for the win, the opening pair of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler nailed the perfect start for the visitors. The duo racked up 50 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket.

Jason Roy missed out on his fifty by a run, but the rest of the top order chipped in with handy runs to outclass India.

Do you want to play Casino games online? Click here to find a range of online casino brands

If you like reading about MMA, make sure you check out MMAIndia.com
Also, follow India’s biggest arm wrestling tournament at ProPanja.com

To bet on sports, click here

Also Read:

WATCH: Rishabh Pant plays an outrageous reverse sweep off Jofra Archer