Kolkata, Jan 22: Wrist-spinner Varun Chakravarthy shined with figures of 3-23 as the Indian bowlers put in a magnificent performance to bowl out England for just 132 runs in the T20I series opener at the Eden Gardens here on Wednesday.
For India, everything went right from the time they elected to bowl first. Arshdeep Singh took out the openers quickly to become India’s leading wicket-taker in men’s T20Is. After that, Chakaravarthy spun a brilliant spin web to leave England dazed in the middle overs.
Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya also picked two wickets in a comprehensive bowling performance for India.
For England, captain Jos Buttler waged a lone battle to hit 68 off 44 balls, even as others fell around him. In the start, Arshdeep struck as Phil Salt was undone by a short ball while trying to work it through the leg side, and the leading edge was caught by Sanju Samson. While Buttler smashed down the ground and edged Pandya for two boundaries, Duckett looked to flick Arshdeep over midwicket, but the leading edge was caught by cover in the pacer’s second over.
Buttler oozed confidence and class by flicking Pandya twice, before pulling and glancing him to pick four boundaries in the fourth over. Harry Brook also made an enterprising start by whipping Chakaravarthy for four, before dancing down the pitch to slam Axar over long-on for six.
After Buttler pulled Axar for six, Brook sliced Chakaravarthy late to pick a beautiful boundary. Just as it looked like England would power to a big total, Chakaravarthy brought out the googly to go past Brook’s inside edge and brushed the pad to hit the stumps. One brought two as Liam Livingstone went for a booming drive off Chakaravarthy, but was castled through the gate.
While he brought on his fifty, Buttler had very little support from the other end as a struggling Jacob Bethell pulled straight to deep mid-wicket off Pandya, while Jamie Overton holed out to the deep and Gus Atkinson was stumped – both falling to Axar. Buttler was soon dismissed by Chakaravarthy – with Nitish Kumar Reddy charging in from deep mid-wicket to take a fine forward-diving catch.
Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer hit a boundary each to take England past 130 before being dismissed in the final over, as England set India a target of 133 to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Brief scores: England 132 all out in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 68; Varun Chakaravarthy 3-23, Arshdeep Singh 2-17) against India
IANS