After losing the three-match ODI series 1-2, England bounced back and took a 1-0 lead after the first T20I against Green Park stadium in Kanpur against India. The visitors completely outplayed India in all the three departments as they eased home with 7 wickets still in hand and 11 balls to spare.
Despite the loss, the moment of the match came from India’s Suresh Raina, who made a stunning save at the mid-wicket boundary to stop the ball from going over the ropes and kept it to just two runs.
When England skipper Eoin Morgan was batting on 41, he slog-swept Yuzvendra Chahal towards the mid-wicket boundary. Suresh Raina, who is making a comeback into the Indian team for the T20Is after being dropped from the ODI side was positioned there. Although he did catch the ball, he lost his balance and that resulted in him toppling back and go over the boundary ropes.
Raina was, however, clever enough to toss the ball back into the play with just a millimetre separating him and the boundary ropes as the batsmen completed an easy double. Thus, he saved four runs for India, but that couldn’t help Virat Kohli and co. from saving themselves from a big defeat in the first T20I.
Kohli’s men were off-colour since the first ball of the match as the lost the wicket of opener KL Rahul cheaply. Two of India’s best batsmen in this format, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli tried to pull things back before Kohli lost his wicket for 29 against the run of play.
After the skipper’s dismissal, India lost wickets at regular intervals with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina getting dismissed at the wrong time for 34 and 12 respectively. Manish Pandey, who didn’t play the ODIs against the Poms, too didn't last long as Moeen Ali trapped him in front for just 3.
Hardik Pandya showed some early promise before he too was dismissed by for a single digit score by Tymal Mills. MS Dhoni scored few crucial runs towards the end and took India to a decent total of 147 for 7. MS Dhoni top-scored for India with an unbeaten 36, while Moeen Ali was the pick of the England bowlers with figures of 2 for 21 and was adjudged the Man of the Match.
Also read: India vs England, 1st T20I Stats- Virat Kohli’s unwanted record and Eoin Morgan’s milestone
England started their chase in the best possible manner as openers Jason Roy and Sam Billings took on the opening bowlers. Billings, in particular, was severe on Jasprit Bumrah as the Kent batsman took him to the cleaners; scoring 20 runs in Bumrah's first over.
Kohli brought in leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the fourth over of the innings and the Haryana-born leggie repaid the faith Kohli kept in him by dismissing both the openers in his first over.
Joe Root and Morgan, however, built a partnership and made sure that there were no further hiccups in the innings. Morgan reached his fifty before holing out to Raina off the bowling of Parvez Rasool for 51. Joe Root, who had his slice of luck when Bumrah castled him twice in two balls (one off a no-ball and the other off a free-hit) towards the end, took his team home with an unbeaten 46. The second T20I will be played in Nagpur on 29th January.
