India v England, 1st T20 - England Player Ratings

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England. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Having lost the Test as well as the ODI series, England have the chance to finish the long tour on a high in the shortest format of the game. Green Park, Kanpur was the venue for the first of the 3 T20s of the series. The visitors won the toss and invited India to bat first on what looked like a decent pitch to bat on.

India started the innings with Virat Kohli and he once again looked good to score big. But England bowlers did a tremendous job to hold a strong batting line-up and took wickets at regular intervals. There was a certain plan to bowl back of the length to the batsmen and there was hardly anything pitched up in their halves. As a result, India were reduced to a mediocre total of 147/7 at the end of 20 overs.

England’s chase was mastered by their two best batsmen Eoin Morgan and Joe Root who shared an 83-run stand for the third wicket and comfortably took the team past the line. It was a dominant victory for the visitors, something that has been missing from the team’s performances on the trip. They were better in all three departments and inflicted a 7 wicket victory to go 1-0 up in the series. Here are the player ratings for the England team:

Jason Roy – 4/10

The flamboyant right-hander had a wonderful time in the ODI series and finished as the top run-getter for England. But the start of the T20s did not bring too much success as he managed just 19 runs off 11 balls. He could not capitalize on a good start that he made and fell in the pursuit of quick runs.

He was quiet in the first 2 overs but picked up after the six he hit off Ashish Nehra. Later, he sent the first delivery of Yuzvendra Chahal over the cow corner for another six but was bowled by the leg-spinner off the very next ball. The score was flowing at that stage and a steady head was required which Roy could not produce.

Also read- India v England, 1st T20I – India Player Ratings

Sam Billings – 4/10

The story of Billings’ innings was not too different from that of his fellow opener. He too got off to a flashing start and took to Jasprit Bumrah in the second over. He hit him for 3 fours and a six and collected 20 runs off the over that really gave the momentum required to chase a moderate total.

But, he needed to hang on after the loss of his partner Roy and it was a great chance for him to make a strong case for himself to be a prominent top order batsman for England. In the same over that Roy departed, he too fell against Chahal for 22 runs off 10 balls. Nevertheless both the openers provided a fiery start that made it easy for the batsmen that followed to chase the total down.

Joe Root – 8/10

He played the kind of innings that was demanded at the hour. He played the perfect foil to Morgan who was on the attack from the other end. Root did not attempt to match his captain shot for shot and allowed him to control the chase. He offered him the strike during the partnership and scored a run-a-ball 46.

His stay at the crease could have been cut short when he attempted to pull Bumrah off a not so short delivery and had his leg stump uprooted. But the bowler had stepped out of the crease which meant that Root had the chance to finish off the innings which he did with full responsibility.

Eoin Morgan – 8.5/10

After the departures of the openers in quick succession, it was important for the skipper to hang in there. He played a magnificent knock of 51 runs off 38 balls that was decisive in his team’s victory. Along with Joe Root, he built a partnership of 83 runs for the third wicket and ensured there were no hiccups.

Chahal had picked up 2 wickets and Parvez Rasool had begun well at the other end as India seemed like pulling back things with the spinners. Morgan handled the situation beautifully and gave himself time to settle in. He took calculated risks from time to time and kept the required run rate under check with 4 sixes. He would have loved to finish the game but lost his wicket in the hunt for a lofted shot.

Ben Stokes – 4/10

He was wayward with his lines initially and bowled 3 wides in his first over and was hit for 10 runs in the next over. Suresh Raina then hit him over long-on for a beautiful six but the bowler dismantled his stumps off a leg-stump Yorker. Raina had moved a lot towards the off-stump and Stokes intelligently bowled full that went behind the batsman’s legs.

He bowled as many as 5 wides in his spell and looked off his radar. He finished being the costliest bowler in the innings with figures of 37/1. When he came out to bat, there was hardly anything to be done as Morgan and Root had already brought the game in their half. He scored 2 runs off 5 balls and had the pleasure of being unbeaten at the end.

Moeen Ali – 9/10

The off-spinner has been a part of every single match on the tour so far and it won’t have been too surprising if he had faded away already going by the results. But he has been doing a mighty fine job more often than not. His figures of 21/2 in 4 overs were really crucial in halting the Indian score to 147 and was later adjudged the player of the match.

Off the very first ball of his spell, he bagged the prized scalp of Virat Kohli who was threatening to take the game away from England and ultimately proved to be the turning point of the game. The variations in pace did not allow even Dhoni to launch him over the top. He grabbed another crucial wicket of Manish Pandey and put India on the back foot.

Chris Jordan – 7/10

The fast bowler was warming the bench in the ODI series and got the chance to step onto the field for the first time. He immediately made a mark and did his reputation no harm of being a specialist T20 bowler by returning with the figures of 27/1 in the 4 overs.

In the 5th over, he had KL Rahul surprised by a skidding short ball and got him out caught at the fine leg which was the first wicket to fall in the Indian innings. He came back to bowl at the death and his changes of pace were immaculate until the point Dhoni smacked him for 12 runs in the final over.

Liam Plunkett – 5/10

He encountered the man in form Virat Kohli in his first over and was slammed for back to back boundaries off the first two balls. In his next over as well, he went for two fours and this time, it was Raina who had the better of him. His figures had received a hammering at that stage with an economy rate of 11.

But he made a good comeback in the attack when he picked up the wicket of Yuvraj Singh. He bowled a bouncer to the left-hander which took a top edge and flew to the fine leg where Adil Rashid took a brilliant catch. In his last over, he gave away just 3 runs and finished with figures of 32/1.

Tymal Mills – 6/10

Before the start of the game, there was a talk about the bowler who could bowl over 90 miles an hour on a consistent basis. Mills, who played his first game was high in the pace department straight away. The left-hander was hitting over 145 clicks constantly in his first spell and followed it up with clever variations in pace during his second.

Initially, he did not pose too much threat to the batsmen and went for 15 runs in the first 2 overs. Later, he got his first wicket in international cricket in the form of Hardik Pandya courtesy a short ball outside the off stump. Overall, he had a happy start to his career with figures of 27/1 in 4 overs.

England’s win by 7 wickets meant that Jos Buttler wasn’t required to bat. The leg-spinner Adil Rashid too did not get an opportunity to contribute as surprisingly, he wasn’t brought into the attack at all by Morgan.

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