England comfortably chased down India’s total of 147/7 with 11 balls and 7 wickets to spare in the first Twenty20 International in Kanpuron Thursday.
With little turn or seam movement from the wicket, the visitors got off to a quick-fire start through their openers Jason Roy (19 from 11) and Sam Billings (22 from 10), bringing up 42 in just 20 balls.
From there, skipper Eoin Morgan (51 from 38), took his side to the brink of victory with Joe Root (46*) providing steady support. There was a faint hope of an India recovery when Yuzvendra Chahal (2/27) removed Roy and Billings in the space of four deliveries.
Morgan and Root though showed no signs of panic. With the required rate well under control, the batsmen knocked the ball around the park for singles and twos. Morgan calculatingly used the long handle and struck four sixes during his stay at the crease.
With less that 20 to get, Root was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah but the replays showed that the Indian pacer had not got any part of his landing foot behind the crease. Root gave little away after the reprieve and safely took England over the line.
Earlier, England had restricted India to a modest 147/7. Virat Kohli (29), who opened the batting and comeback man Suresh Raina (34) failed to build on their starts as England suffocated India in the middle overs.
With little contribution from the middle-order batsmen, MS Dhoni (36 from 27) was left with too much to do in the final overs, and strangely, couldn’t land the big hits in the death overs.
The two teams will next face-off in Nagpur for the second T20I on Sunday.
Brief score
India 147/7 in 20 Overs (MS Dhoni 36 not out, Suresh Raina 34; Moeen Ali 2/21, Tymal Mills 1/27) lost to England 148/3 in 18.1 Overs (Eoin Morgan 51, Joe Root 46 not out; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/27) by 7 wickets