India v England, 1st T20I - 5 Talking Points

The first T20 international between England and India concluded in a defeat for the hosts. Of course, one would certainly point the finger at the fact that the Indians had a massive issue after losing the toss and were dealt a bad hand, but the partnerships in both batting and bowling were simply non-existent. One could perhaps point the finger at the fact that this is a rather unsettled squad, but for some of the performances on the day, it is clear that some work needs to be done.

However, at the outset for England, they have been simply phenomenal, to say the least. Eoin Morgan with the bat along with his trusted lieutenants Joe Root and Ben Stokes coupled with the bowlers ensured that the win at Kanpur was indeed theirs. While there were many talking points on the day, here are the five most prominent talking points at the close of the encounter.

1. India rings in the changes

While the ODI squad boasted of a few new faces, the T20 international squad for the Indians boasted of many more faces given the fact that the management perhaps wanted to rest the players who had been playing an abundance of cricket. Ashish Nehra made his way back along with Yuzvendra Chahal and Parvez Rasool. While the Indians swapped their spinners, Suresh Raina, the man who had last played a few months previously during the World T20 was eventually making his way back as well. While KL Rahul was persisted with in the side, it was the Indians who went ahead with Manish Pandey ahead of Kedar Jadhav.

Also read- IND v ENG, 1st T20I Review: Moeen Ali, Morgan power England to comprehensive win

2. England bowlers make life difficult for India

All the while, during the Indian innings, the England bowlers gave away very little to the Indians in the grand scheme of things. Tymal Mills, the man who would eventually pick up his first T20I wicket for England along with Chris Jordan made life incredibly hard for the Indians whilst the latter were batting. Moreover, a feature of their bowling was the fact that they continued to pick wickets in tandem as the Indian batsmen simply could not foster a partnership. Each of the England bowlers managed to get their names up in the wickets column.

3. MS Dhoni once again proves his worth

MS Dhoni was there once again for his side as he successfully picked up the pieces, or at least what was left of it. Only four of the nine Indian batsmen who batted were able to make it away from the single digit scores into their double digits to ensure that the Indians would have something to play with. Dhoni would remain unbeaten on the day on 36 with his ever-diminishing finishing powers coming back to haunt him yet again.

Watch: Suresh Raina hits the only six in the Indian innings

Suresh Raina 34(23) #IndvsEng pic.twitter.com/UY8fM5aoOI

— TN Raina Fans (@TNRainaFans) January 26, 2017

4. Eoin Morgan slams impressive half-century

If the one thing India lacks is the ability to finish off matches, England’s greatest strengths in this match was to simply ensure that they were to exploit these weaknesses of the Indians. Eoin Morgan was perhaps one of the most impressive of the lot when he simply dealt a blow to the spinners on the day. Anything even a centimeter short of length was whacked straight into the stands by Morgan who was clearly supported by the other batsmen who had not lost their wickets on the day.

5. Root and Stokes guide England to victory

Joe Root and Ben Stokes were the last ones left standing as they guided England to a seven-wicket win. However, the fact of the matter remained that luck was indeed on their side. Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up Root before reviews suggested that he had indeed overstepped. Needless to say, Root helped himself to an impressive 46 before eventually ensuring that the visitors had a win under their belt.