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India began their preparations for the T20I series against England with a formidable seven-wicket win over Derbyshire in the first of two practice matches on Friday, July 1. Leading the line was veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who will also captain the side in their second practice match against Northamptonshire on Sunday, July 3.
Starring once again for India was Deepak Hooda, who scored a stunning half-century while Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav scored 30 runs each to help India clinch a convincing win while chasing 151.
Earlier, Indian bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik picked up two wickets each as the side restricted the hosts to 150.
India lost Ruturaj Gaikwad early in the run chase. Then, Sanju Samson and Deepak Hooda steadied the ship as they got together and saw India through the powerplay. While Samson was his usual aggressive self, Hooda took his time to get going. However, Derbyshire struck again and Samson departed for 38.
Hooda began to accelerate his after he was joined by Suryakumar Yadav on the field. The former eventually got to his fifty and put on a 78-run stand with Suryakumar before departing for 59. The Mumbai Indians (MI) batter, along with captain Dinesh Karthik went on to complete the formalities with more than three overs to spare.
While Umran and Arshdeep bagged two wickets each, it was Axar Patel who struck in the first over. Venkatesh Iyer also had a good outing and posted figures of 1/18 in his 3 overs. Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan went wicketless, with the latter bowling just two overs.
India's next warm-up game will be against Northamptonshire and it is scheduled to take place on July 3. The three-match T20I series against England will begin on July 7 and the three-match ODI series will begin on July 12.
