Ahmedabad: A clinical all-round performance from England meant they beat India by 8 wickets in the first T-20 on Friday (March 12) taking a 1-0 lead in the series. A disappointing batting performance by the men in blue at the Narendra Modi Stadium was followed by a swashbuckling Jason Roy (49) show, while Jos Buttler (28), Dawid Malan (24*) and Jonny Bairstow (26*) also contributed setting up the win for the visitors who chased down the target of 125 in 15.3 overs.
England win the first @Paytm #INDvENG T20I by 8 wickets. #TeamIndia will be looking to bounce back & level the series in the 2nd T20I.
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/XYV4KmdfJk pic.twitter.com/THSEAxWoFr
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 12, 2021
However, it was England who won the toss opting for bowling. The men in blue had poor start as both the opener Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul went home cheaply before Adil Rashid sent skipper Virat Kohli for a duck adding more to the batting misery.
Rishav Pant (21) too was unable to replicate his recent heroics of the test series in this game. However, Shreyas Iyer showed great maturity in soaking up the pressure steadying the ship bringing up a gritty half century before falling in the trap of Chris Jordan scoring his career best 67 of 48 helping India to reach a total of 124/7 in the 20 overs. Jofra Archer spearheaded the English dominance with his 3/23 in his full quota.
In Reply, It was Roy and Butler who took the hosts’ bowling to the cleaners scoring 50 in the first six overs laying base for the chase. Yuzvendra Chahal was hit for 11 in his first over. Roy missed out on a deserving half-century but Malan coupled with Bairstow continued the onslaught taking the game over the line scoring 130/2. Archer was adjudged the Man of the Match for his superb bowling display. Both sides will meet again in the next fixture on March 14.
