Internet Desk: Dominant England defeates Virat Kohli’s India in an emphatic fashion by seven wickets to take the lead in the three match T-20 International series at Green Park, Kanpur on Thursday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the highet scorer for the home team India with an unbeaten 36 while Moeen Ali took two wickets for 21 runs for the visitors.
Before this game, India had defended a sub-150 score at home just once – in that famous game against Bangladesh in the ICC World T20 2016 in Bangalore. England’s batsmen, led by Eoin Morgan’s 38-ball 51 and his third-wicket stand of 83 with Joe Root (46 not out), ensured that status quo was maintained. England cantered to 148 for 3 in 18.1 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Opening the batting in a T20I for the first time since November 2012, Kohli started with a back foot punch off Tymal Mills to the backward point fence. KL Rahul too played a similar shot off a delivery going away from him before the left-arm seamer cut the angle by coming from around the wicket.
Having spotted a way to keep a check on the run-flow, Morgan asked his bowlers to bowl into the body, take the pace off the ball, cut out the boundary balls and not experiment much. Mills, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali deserve all the credit for executing the plan to perfection.
England’s first breakthrough came in the fifth over when Jordan surprised Rahul with a short ball and had him caught at short fine-leg.
Even though Suresh Raina, batting at No. 3 for the first time since October 2013 in his comeback game, hit two fours off Plunkett in the last Power Play over, the attack-minded Kohli was denied a boundary for ten balls at a stretch.
Moeen benefitted from it off his first ball of the match when Morgan caught Kohli’s flick at short mid-wicket to send the Indian captain back for 29.
With the main wicket claimed, England continued to play on India’s patience. The batsmen tried to manufacture shots, but just did not know how to score big off the slower balls. So, every time there was some pace on the ball, they became desperate.
Yuvraj Singh was early on the pull when Plunkett came back for his second spell, only to be caught spectacularly by a running Adil Rashid, who did not bowl, at long-leg just inches above the ground.
Raina, who made 34 but hardly looked convincing with his movements, missed a yorker on leg-stump from Stokes to be bowled, and Manish Pandey played Moeen across the line to be trapped in front of the stumps.
With the score 98 for 5 in 13.2 overs, it was all on Mahendra Singh Dhoni to take India to a respectable total. He dominated the sixth and seventh-wicket partnerships respectively with Hardik Pandya and Parveez Rasool, the debutant, but it hardly altered the innings run-rate. He waited till the final over before opening up, and even though Jordan conceded 12 runs, England remained on top.
Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah opened the bowling, and their pace worked favourably for Jason Roy and Sam Billings. England raced to 36 in the first three overs, with Bumrah conceding 20 to Billings in the second over.
With the game running away from Kohli’s grasp, Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been his go-to spinner at Royal Challengers Bangalore, was introduced in the fourth over. Right on cue, Chahal struck twice. Roy played on to a ball that kept low, and Billings failed to reach the pitch of a googly to lose his stumps.
The artificial excitement created by the twin-wicket over electrified the atmosphere, but the opening partnership of 42 in 3.2 overs had put England way ahead. Root and Morgan had all the time to play out Chahal and Rasool, and take calculated risks between rotating strike.
England was 64 for 2 in ten overs when Chahal returned for his second spell. Nothing miraculous happened on this occasion as Root and Morgan took him for 12 runs.
After Rasool had Morgan caught by Raina for his maiden scalp, Root and Stokes completed the job through an unbroken 22-run stand. The only excitement for the home fans during that phase came when Bumrah bowled Root twice off two balls – first off a no-ball and then off the subsequent free-hit.
Brief Scores:
India: 147 for seven in 20 overs. (MS Dhoni not out 36, Suresh Raina 34, Virat Kohli 29; Moeen Ali 2/21).
England: 148 for 3 in 18.1 overs.
With inputs from PTI.