England’s white-ball tour of India got underway on Wednesday in Kolkata with a seven-wicket defeat as the tourists’ batters were blown away by the hosts’ spinners and opening batter Abhishek Sharma.
In Brendon McCullum’s first limited-overs game as England’s head coach across all formats, India won the toss and captain Suryakumar Yadav opted to bowl first.
England skipper Jos Buttler was the only batter who coped with the spinning pitch as his 68 helped his side in their struggle to 132 all out in the full 20 overs.
Their total was chased down with ease by the home side with the damage mainly done by Abhishek, who hit 79 off 34 balls.
Jofra Archer picked up figures of 2/21 in his four overs whilst the rest of the bowling attack were largely ineffective and expensive.
India reached their target of 133 in 12.5 overs, scoring at 10.36 runs per over.
Here are my player ratings for each side:
India
- Sanju Samson (WK) – 6/10
23 (12), 1 catch, 1 stumping, 1 run out; hit Atkinson for 22 in India’s second over of their chase, which set the pace before Abhishek took over
2. Abhishek Sharma – 9/10
79 (34), 1 catch; absolutely destroyed England’s bowlers with five 4s and eight 6s, hit a majestic lofted cover drive off Rashid and almost took India all the way home
3. Suryakumar Yadav (C) – 3/10
0 (3), 1 catch; dismissed by Archer for a duck
4 – Tilak Varma – 6/10
19* (16); came in at 41/2 and built an 88-run partnership with Abhishek before sealing the win, although he mostly watched the opener smash the ball around the ground
5 – Hardik Pandya – 5/10
3* (4), 2/42 off 4 overs; bowling was expensive but took the wicket of Bethell to leave England at 83/5. Was at the wicket when victory was sealed
6 – Rinku Singh – 5/10
DNB (Did Not Bat), 1 catch; caught Duckett to reduce England to 17/2
7 – Nitish Kumar Reddy – 6/10
DNB, 2 catches; took two good catches, including a very well-taken diving catch to dismiss Buttler, and produced a brilliant dive to deny him a boundary
8 – Axar Patel – 7/10
DNB, 2/22 off 4 overs; dismissed all-rounders Overton and Atkinson and bowled the only maiden of the game
9 – Ravi Bishnoi – 6/10
DNB, 0/22 off 4 overs; no wickets but good economy
10 – Arshdeep Singh – 8/10
DNB, 2/17 off 4 overs; impressive opening spell which dismissed both England openers to reduce them to 17/2. Also overtook Yuzvendra Chahal to become India’s all-time leading T20 wicket-taker with 97 in 61 matches at an average of 17.9
11 – Varun Chakravarthy – 9/10
DNB, 3/23 off 4 overs; deceived England’s batters with his leg-spin, bowling both Brook and Livingstone in the space of three balls, which knocked England back to 65/4. Also dismissed Buttler
England
- Phil Salt (WK) – 2/10
0 (3), 1 catch; looped Arshdeep’s ball up in the air to get out on the third ball of the game
2. Ben Duckett – 3/10
4 (4); played an impressive reverse scoop before also skying Arshdeep up in the air and being caught
3. Jos Buttler (C) – 8/10
68 (44); the only England batter to play well and couldn’t have done much more with limited support. Hit his 26th T20I fifty
4. Harry Brook – 4/10
17 (14), 1 catch; played one beautiful shot over extra-cover for 6 but was bowled by Chakravarthy shortly after. Caught Abhishek but the game was over by that point already
5. Liam Livingstone – 2/10
0 (2), 0/7 off 1 over; bowled by Chakravarthy two balls after Brook was and had no impact with the ball
6. Jacob Bethell – 2/10
7 (14); smashed Pandya to deep mid-wicket after struggling to score, which slowed England’s run-rate and made Buttler’s job harder
7. Jamie Overton – 2/10
2 (4), 0/10 off 1 over; skied Patel to long-off and failed to make a difference with the ball
8. Gus Atkinson – 1/10
2 (13), 0/38 off 2 overs, 1 catch; couldn’t get off strike against Patel and got smashed around by Samson and Abhishek. Caught Samson off Archer’s bowling
9. Jofra Archer – 6/10
12 (10), 2/21 off 4 overs; the only England bowler to make an impact by dismissing Samson and Yadav in the same over to give his side a chance before Abhishek blew them away
10. Adil Rashid – 2/10
8* (11), 1/27 off 2 overs; remained not out at the end of England’s innings but was very expensive before finally getting Abhishek out
11. Mark Wood – 3/10
1 (1), 0/25 off 2.5 overs; bowling speed up to 95mph but couldn’t find a way to dismiss Abhishek and give his side a chance at defending their total. Was run out off the final ball of England’s innings