India brutally cast aside England in the first T20I at Eden Gardens, as Abhishek Sharma‘s 79 from just 34 deliveries munched a meagre target of 133 with 43 balls to spare.
Abhishek’s third fifty-plus score in the format capped off an accomplished all-round performance from the hosts.
A combination of Arshdeep Singh‘s 2-17 up top and Varun Chakravarthy‘s 3-23 through the middle dismissed the tourists for 132, scuppering their attempts to mark Brendon McCullum’s first match in charge with the attacking verve he craves.
But for Jos Buttler‘s 68 – his 26th T20I fifty – things could have been worse. The 34-year-old’s evening had begun by losing a crucial toss to Suryakumar Yadav.
With the 19:00h start in Kolkata, moisture was in the air throughout, and dew a factor as early as the first innings. Both captains wanted to bowl, and only one got the chance.
Arshdeep made the best of those early conditions, removing openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett in his first 11 deliveries.
Those dismissals took the left-arm seamer to 97 in T20Is, leapfrogging Yuzvendra Chahal as India’s top wicket-taker in the format.
By the time Buttler departed in the 17th over, he had provided 68 out of the 109 on the board, with Harry Brook the only batter to reach double figures before Jofra Archer pitched in with 12 from No.9.
Brook’s 17 was part of a stand of 48 with Buttler, the vice-captain and captain setting about a rebuild that was ended by Varun’s googlies.
The 33-year-old bowled Brook and Liam Livingstone in the space of three deliveries to turn that back to rubble. His third was Buttler, holing out to deep square leg.
Whatever little jeopardy there was in the chase, it was restricted to just the fifth over, when Archer removed both. Sanju Samson – who had done the early running – and Surayakumar for a duck in four deliveries.
Archer, who bowled his four overs on the bounce having opened the innings, was comfortably the pick of England’s bowlers with 2 for 21.
By contrast, Gus Atkinson was taken apart for 38 runs across his two overs, with his first blitzed for 22 by Samson.
The onus was then on Abhishek, who was put down by Adil Rashid on 29 off 16. The left-hander would bring up his half-century just four balls later.
Though Rashid would eventually get his man, India had all but established a 1-0 lead in this five-match series.
A top-edged four from Tilak Varma off Mark Wood’s bouncer off the penultimate ball of the 13th over confirmed it. (ESPNcricinfo)
