Varun, Abhishek help India romp to easy win in first T20I

Kolkata: With a packed infield, a wide slip and a gully, Arshdeep Singh made the ball climb up on Phil Salt from length and England were straightaway told scoring wouldn’t be easy despite the dew. Mohammad Shami wasn’t picked but the Eden Gardens pitch had enough smattering of grass to make Hardik Pandya pitch the ball slightly fuller. He swung the ball in, and then out, but Jos Buttler was getting to the pitch of the ball and taking his chances. Couple of dazzling fours and a wicket in the first two overs set the tone of a typical T20 slugfest where neither side tried to hold back till India ran away with the game, courtesy Abhishek Sharma who plundered 79 runs off just 34 balls.

Buttler persevered in a typically inimitable style but barring his stabilising 44-ball 68, England lived on edge. Ben Duckett speared the ball trying to flick Arshdeep. Jacob Bethel was denied width till he decided to throw the kitchen sink at Pandya, only to be caught at deep midwicket. Harry Brook and Liam Livingston couldn’t read Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery spin. Five of the top seven batters were caught as England crawled to 132. In reply, India cantered to the target with seven wickets (and 43 balls) to spare and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Yet again Sanju Samson gave India a flying start, hitting Gus Atkinson for two consecutive boundaries before flaying him over covers for a massive six. Atkinson’s ordeal wasn’t over as Samson whipped him past mid-on before glancing another boundary to raise 22 runs from that over. Jofra Archer got Samson to hole out before accounting for Suryakumar Yadav who top-edged a pull.

Archer’s double strike, however, had little effect on the game as Sharmawent on the attack to virtually finish the chase before drinks came on. He picked Archer for the counterpunch, carving a wide ball over deep point for 70m six. Wood was quick but strayed down the leg, prompting Sharma to flick it over fine leg for another six. Next ball, a bigger six as Sharma came down the track to slash Wood over third man.

Buttler switched to Adil Rashid and the leggie almost held on to a low and difficult return chance from Sharma. But the next three balls were completely anti-climactic as Sharma first found a boundary through extra cover before going through an outrageous aerial flick that evaded Bethel’s outstretched hands at deep midwicket. Another six followed, but this time Sharma cleared his front leg to muscle it over long-on. Rashid finally got Sharma but England had been completely outclassed by then.

But for Buttler, India would have run through the English batting order even quicker. The England captain was often copybook but also taking his chances, shuffling across the stumps to play with the bowlers’ lines, flashing hard and getting toe-edges. Luck, too, favoured him, and by the time England had crossed 50, Buttler had made 34. The other batters, however, found batting rather difficult, partly because of the darting, zipping ball and largely because of Chakravarthy who took the three big scalps of Buttler, Brook and Livingstone.

Axar Patel endured a rough start when Brook stepped out and hit him inside out for a six before rocking back and pulling him over midwicket for another maximum. But Chakravarthy was straighter and unforgiving with his lengths, flummoxing Brook and Liam Livingstone with the wrong’un in the eighth over, reducing England to 65/4. “Basically what I have observed is bowling more side spin in the highest level, the ball just keeps skidding on,” Chakravarthy said during the innings break. “I thought I have to impart more overspin in my legspin and googly, that’s what I was working on.”

Heartening was the overall bowling performance, as India conceded just 67 runs in 12 overs the three spinners (Ravi Bishnoi was the third, returning 0/22) bowled. Arshdeep was sharp at the start as well as the end. Even Pandya recovered from a insipid start — leaking 18 runs in his first over—to chip in with Bethel’s wicket and prevent Buttler from forging a decent partnership. India scored well on that front too with Samson taking India to 41 in 4.1 overs. And by the time Sharma was out, India had added 84 runs in 42 balls.