By Shrey Siddharth
The first match of the T20 series kicked off at Motera between India and England in Motera. This series will be important for both teams because World T20 will be played in India later this year. England won the toss and chose to bowl.
The star-studded English line up included Roy, Butler and the in-form Malan, followed by Bairstow, Morgan and Stokes along with a formidable pace attack of Archer, Wood and Curran, and the leg-break bowler Rashid. India, on the other hand, came in with Dhawan, Rahul and Kohli in the top, followed by Iyer, Pant and Pandya. The bowling line-up included Axar, Sundar, Chahal, Thakur and the comeback man Bhuvaneshvar.
Here are a few highlights from today’s game:-
Archer chokes the Indian batting:-
Jofra Archer got maiden in his very first over along with the wicket of Rahul for 1. He bowled with great control and went on to dismiss Pandya and Thakur off consecutive deliveries. England bowled well. Mark Wood was firing all cylinders, clicking around 150 mph on almost every occasion and he got the wicket of Dhawan for 4 who got beaten by pace. Rashid got Kohli caught at mid-off without scoring. Stokes and Jordan got one wicket each. India was restricted for only 124 runs for the loss of 7 wickets at the end of 20 overs.
Iyer fires sensibly:-
Shreyas Iyer was the only positive takeaway for India in this game. Iyer looked to control the innings under pressure and play conventional strokes to get the boundaries, but he didn’t get much support from the other batsmen. He stood his ground until the last over before he was dismissed after a well compiled 67 runs by Jordan.
Roy slogs India:-
Jason Roy attacked the Indian spinners with his delightful strokeplay during the powerplay overs, using the lofted sweep to full effect. He didn’t let any Indian bowler put pressure. He comfortably went on to score 49 before he was dismissed LBW off Sundar.
Chahal dismissed Butler for 28 after a 72 run opening stand. Malan scored 24 and Bairstow got back into form with an aggressive cameo of 26 as both batsmen took England home in the 16th over. England won convincingly by 8 wickets and took the lead of 1-0 in the series. Jofra Archer became the man of the match for his match-winning performance of 3-23 in 4 overs. England who looked lacklustre in the final 2 test matches has made their intentions clear in this T20 game. Can India come back in the series?
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