1st T20I: How Virat Kohli and Co were mauled at Motera by Eoin Morgan's English army

Dominant England inflict eight-wicket defeat on India with 27 balls to spare after hosts post paltry 124-7 in opening T20 International at Ahmedabad

England chased the victory target of 125 with ease for an eight-wicket win with 27 balls to spare as over 60,000 Indian fans fell silent at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Friday. In his pre-match talk, Indian captain Virat Kohli had promised aggression but Eoin Morgan’s English army were far more aggressive to justify their top ranking in the shortest version of the game. 

England pacer Jofra Archer (right) celebrates an Indian wicket with teammate Ben Stokes at Ahmedabad

Kohli had boasted about an aggressive approach due to the depth in the Indian batting. England, however, played with fire from the word go as they throttled the home team’s top order with some blistering pace at the start of the innings after Morgan had opted to field first.

In the first six overs, England had bowled 22 dot balls and that set the ball rolling for England’s dominance in the first of the five T20 international matches to be played in Ahmedabad.

Archer, Wood on fire
Before Jofra Archer and Mark Wood breathed fire with their sheer pace, Adil Rashid not only bowled miserly but also accounted for Kohli with a calculated field placement.  Kohli made room to hit Rashid inside out but hit straight into the hands of Chris Jordan, who was moved to that position by Rashid just before he bowled to Kohli.

KL Rahul has often got out slashing the ball onto his stumps and this time too he tried to slash away from his body off a quick Archer ball only to see an inside edge crashing on to the LED bails.  Wood, who was consistently bowling in excess of 145 kmh, beat Shikhar Dhawan with sheer pace to reduce India to 20 for 3 inside the power play.

While the disciplined English bowlers were bowling in tandem to keep the Indian batsmen in check, Rishabh Pant promised some fireworks when he reverse-scooped Archer for a six over wicketkeeper Jos Buttler’s head and then hit a boundary to take 11 runs off Archer’s second over. But he fell to a tame shot for 21 (23 balls, 2x4, 1x6).

Iyer’s 67 in vain
Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer (67, 48 balls, 8x4, 1x6) looked like batting on a different surface and against a different opposition as he played some pleasing square drives and pulls to try and salvage something for India. He had a good 54-run partnership in 44 balls with Hardik Pandya (19, 21 balls, 1x4, 1x6) but that was not enough as the English bowlers bowled 54 dot balls off 122 deliveries (including two wides).

Whatever hopes India may have had for a late assault to get a fighting total, were dashed when Archer sounded the death knell in the death overs by taking two wickets in two balls in the 18th over. In the end, Jason Roy (49, 32 balls, 4x4, 3x6), Jos Buttler (28, 24 balls, 2x4, 1x6) Jonny Bairstow (26 not out, 17 balls, 1x4, 2x6) made light of the target by scoring 130 in 15.3 overs.

Brief scores
India 124-7 in 20 overs (S Iyer 67, J Archer 3-23) lost to England 130-2 in 15.3 overs (J Roy 49, J Buttler 28) by 8 wkts

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