India registered a massive 50-run victory to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series against England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton early on Friday, July 7. The hero of the first T20I was Hardik Pandya, who smashed his maiden T20I fifty and also bagged four wickets for his team.
But the main blow that Pandya landed were the dismissals of two England batters in one over, which laid the foundation for India to coast to victory.
Chasing 199 runs, England began on a sombre note after new skipper Jos Buttler was dismissed for a golden duck in his first T20I match as captain. Rohit Sharma then handed the ball to Pandya in the fifth over. He displayed his bowling prowess after coming on and sent David Malan back to the pavilion, his next wicket saw the dismissal of power hitter Liam Livingstone, who came to bat at number four, on the last ball of the same over.
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Hardik Pandya led both departments with 50 and 4 wickets
With three wickets for 29 runs, India began cruising to a win. He added the scalps of Sam Curran (4) and opener Jason Roy (4) as we. England's highest run-getter was Moeen Ali, who could score only 36 runs. Apart from Pandya, debutant Arshdeep Singh also bagged two wickets.
Earlier in the match, India batted first and scored 198 runs for eight wickets, helped by Pandya's 51 runs in 33 balls. He shared a 37-run stand for the fourth wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (39) and 45 runs for the fifth wicket with Axar Patel (17). Suryakumar himself scored 43 runs for the third wicket with Deepak Hooda (33). For the England bowlers, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan took the maximum two wickets each for England.
