England vs India 2022: 1st T20I – Who Said What

India registered an emphatic 50-run victory over England in the first T20I at The Rose Bowl in Southampton to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. It was courtesy of Hardik Pandya’s all-round brilliance that the Men in Blue managed to get the job done and a batting failure from the hosts that saw two of their key batters being dismissed without troubling the scorers also worked extremely well in the Indian team’s favour.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Rohit departed after getting off to a brisk start scoring a 14-ball 24. The middle-order duo of Deepak Hooda (33) and Suryakumar Yadav (39) were then involved in a small partnership and once they were dismissed, Hardik Pandya converted his good start into an impactful knock scoring 51 runs off 33 balls as the Indian team posted a stiff total of 198/8.

For England, Chris Jordan and Moeen Ali starred with two wickets each while Reece Topley Tymal Mills, and Matt Parkinson picked up one each.

England lose their plot in a stiff run chase

In reply. skipper Jos Buttler was castled for a golden duck by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and things complicated further when T20I specialist Dawid Malan was also dismissed early and Liam Livingstone was sent back without troubling the bowlers. An unexpected setback during a crucial juncture meant that England were playing a catch-up game in their run chase.

The Indian bowlers kept adding pressure as the required run-rate got steeper. The middle-order duo of Harry Brook (28) and Moeen Ali (36) tried to delay the inevitable and Chris Jordan also contributed with an unbeaten 26 runs from 17 deliveries. However, they were not enough as the hosts were bundled out for 148 in the final over.

Hardik Pandya was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 4/33 from his four overs while debutant Arshdeep Singh chipped in with 2/18. Leggie Yuzvendra Chahal registered figures of 2/33 while the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel picked up a wicket each.

Losing skipper, Jos Buttler said:

They bowled well with the new ball and put us under pressure. We couldn’t get away from that point. We came back really well in the second half with the ball. Probably a bit above par and they swung the ball consistently. Bhuvneshwar Kumar can swing it in any conditions.

Certainly the ball swung longer than I can remember in a T20 game. Maybe we needed to hit one in the stands and stop that swing. We know the boys have the talent and we want to see them on the big stage.

But India’s success with the ball was was mainly possible because of those first two overs. Bhuvi had Roy all at sea to outswingers, then shocked Buttler with an inswinger for a golden duck.

Arshdeep followed it up with one of the best first overs on debut in international cricket. And it was heartening to see him swing the new ball both ways. India’s opening bowlers made Roy look like a club batter who would not move his feet, play with fear like oopsy this is swinging into me, away from me. One of Roy’s forgettable days with the bat. India did win the game but they would not be happy about six dropped chances.

Winning skipper, Rohit Sharma said:

Great performance from ball one. All batters showed intent. Although the pitch was good, we played good shots and never got ahead of the game. You got to make use of those six overs in the powerplay. There is a certain approach we want to take in the powerplay. You go

t to back yourself in this game, sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. The whole batting unit needs to understand the direction the team is taking and the guys were spot on today. I was impressed with his (Hardik) bowling. He wants to do that a lot more in the future, bowled quick and used his variations too.

Of course his batting is there for us to see. That’s the reason we wanted to bat (ball swinging under lights). Sometimes it does swing in the evenings and we wanted to utilize that. Both the new ball bowlers used the swing and stopped their batters. We were sloppy on the field. Those catches should have been taken. Pretty sure we will field pretty well in the coming games.

Player of the Match, Hardik Pandya said:

The last time I played a T20 in England, I think I took 4 wickets and scored some 30. So I kind of knew I was the first Indian to score fifty and take 4 wickets. I am enjoying my cricket right now. For me a lot of time goes into the preparation to get my body ready.

The kind of break I took before this run of play I want to capitalize on the opportunities. I felt I needed that break. It is about giving your 100% and when you don’t do that, there is no point playing. So I needed that break and now I am happy to be in this place right now.