Picture : BCCI/ Twitter
Electing to bat after Rohit Sharma returning as skipper , India have taken a 1-0 lead over England in the three -match T20 series In the first match at Rose bowl , Southampton , India romped home by 50 runs in Jos Buttler’s debut as England Skipper.
India were off to a flying start with openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan showing the intent straight away 29 in 2.5 overs for the first wicket . Ishan Kishan fell for ( 8). The innings got the momentum with in- form Deepak Hooda 17 ball 33 ( three fours, two sixes), Suryakumar Yadav 19 ball 39 ( four fours, two sixes). Then all- rounder Hardik Pandya lifted the inning with his wonderful innings of 51 off 33 balls ( six fours. one six) . Axar Patel ( 17), Dinesh Karthik ( 11) added sone useful lower order runs. Pandya’s blitz helped India reach a fighting 198 / 8 in their 20 overs. Interestingly there was no Virat Kohli in the line- up.
England bowling figures were : Moeen Ali 2/ 26 ( 2 over) , Tymal Mills 1/ 35 ( 3 overs), Chris Jordan 2/ 23 ( 4 overs), Reece Topley 1/ 34 ( 4 overs), Matthew Parkinson 1/ 44 ( 4 overs) , Sam Curran 0/ 18 ( 2 overs)
In reply, England were jolted early with skipper Jos Buttler bowled by a beauty from Bhuvneshwar Kumar without troubling the scorecard for 0.
Coming off his fine show with the bat, Pandya delivered with the ball in his very first over not once, but twice, removing Dawid Malan ( 21) and Liam Livingstone( 0) to leave England in a disarray at 29/3 in the fifth over.
Pandya was not done yet as he ended Roy’s ( 4) painstaking stay in the middle when he had the opener caught at third man after a thick edge. He capped off a memorable outing by taking the wicket of Sam Curran. Harry Brook ( 26). Moeen Ali ( 36 ), Chris Jordan ( 26) battled hard but the target was stiff one. England were bowled out for 148 in 19. 3 overs. India winning by 50 runs.
For India , Hardik Pandya had a perfect all- round game with figures of 4/33 ( 4 overs). He was well backed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/ 10 ( 3 overs). Debutant Arshdeep Singh made it memorable one with 2/ 18( 3.3 overs) , Harshal Patel 1/ 24 ( 3 overs) , Yuzvendra Chahal 2/ 32 ( 4 overs) , Axar Patel 0/ 23 ( 2 overs)
With the win Rohit Sharma became the first captain to win 13 consecutive T20I’s.
