England Continue T20 Domination With Convincing Victory Over India

England’s bowlers were key as they beat India by eight wickets with a dominant performance in Ahmedabad.

The visitors won the toss and captain Eoin Morgan decided to bowl first, which paid off quickly. Not only were the home side restricted to just 22 runs in the powerplay but lost three quick wickets in the opening six overs. Jofra Archer struck first forcing Kannur Rahul to play the ball onto the stumps, the opener walked scoring one run.

Morgan has been known for his unpredictability at times, that shown as he took the risk in opening the bowling with Adil Rashid. The leg spinner got the prized wicket of India captain Virat Kohli for a duck as his struggle for form continues.

The third wicket fell at the end of the fourth over with Mark Wood bowling Shikhar Dhawan, Wood shown some searing pace throughout the match, hitting a high speed of 94.4mph.

After the powerplay a partnership between Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer shown some promise for the 67,000 fans in attendance at the Motera Stadium, the pair put on a 54-run fifth wicket partnership putting the home side 102-4.

Two quick wickets form Archer prevented the partnership from developing, leaving the hosts 102-6 with just over two overs left.

India ended their innings 124-7 with Iyer top scoring with 67 runs of 48 deliveries, the quality and the number of options in England’s bowling attack was key on an uneven pitch. Archer the pick of the bowlers with 3-23 off his four overs.

England’s openers Jos Butler and Jason Roy squashed any hope that India had of protecting the 125 runs the visitors needed for victory with a 72-run partnership (Roy 44, Butler 28). Butler went for 28 LBW after missing a straight delivery from Yuzvendra Chahal.

Roy went soon after for 49 with Washington Sundar catching him LBW with his first delivery of the innings.

Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow finished the game off in style, scoring 50 runs between them to seal the England victory.

Bairstow was very impressive scoring 26 from 17 deliveries shaking off the horror of a test series he had this winter.

England take a 1-0 lead in the five match series into Sundays second T20 match,  with all five matches being held at the Motera Stadium.

India XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (captain), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal.

England XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.