India vs England: 1st T20I, 2021 - Who Said What

The Number one-ranked T20I team, England presented a stunning show in the first T20 International of the five-match series against India at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium as they managed to outplay the Indian side in all three facets of the game. It was a bad day at the office for the Indian batsmen as they gave nothing significant on the board for the bowlers to defend in the second innings.

The toss went Eoin Morgan’s way and he invited the host team to bat first. India witnessed a horrific collapse of their batting line-up as the top-order could contribute just 5 runs to the scoreboard with Shikhar Dhawan scoring 4 runs while KL Rahul and Virat Kohli and 1 and 0 under their belt. 

Jason Roy emerges as the highest run-getter for England

Shreyas Iyer, who came to bat at number 5, was the only batsman from the host side to show some courage and determination as he played a sublime knock of 67 runs off 48 deliveries. At last, India could manage to post just 124 runs on the board in their 20 overs. For England, pacer Jofra Archer took three wickets while Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Chris Jordan, and Ben Stokes had one each under their belt.

Chasing 125 was nothing less than a cakewalk for the visitors and they easily completed the set target within 15.3 overs while losing just 2 wickets of both the opening batsmen Jason Roy and Jos Buttler to spinners Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal respectively. Roy emerged as the highest run-getter with 49 runs under his belt while Buttler scored 28.

Losing skipper, Virat Kohli said:

 We just weren’t aware enough of what to do on that kind of pitch. Lack of execution of some of the shots. We have to come back with much more intent and clarity of plan. The wicket did not allow you to play the kind of shots you wanted to. It was a below par batting performance and England made us pay. We looked to try few things but as a batting side you have to accept that we didn’t bat well. Shreyas batted well but we did not have enough runs on the board. It is part of a journey of international cricket. You will have your ups and down but you have to back your game. For me it is about going out there and be positive. We take a lot of pride in playing good white-ball cricket, we have won the previous series and the series before that. We just have these five games before the T20 World Cup, so we need to experiment but having said that, we have to ensure we don’t take things lightly.

Player of the Match, Jofra Archer said:

When the competition is tough you step up and competition brings out the best in me. In England set up there are world-class bowlers. I rather go for dot balls than wickets in the powerplay and if I get wickets it is a bonus. Usually for a new batter or you have the bigger side you bowl the short ball. Everything has been very good.

Winning skipper, Eoin Morgan said:

That was certainly the intention. Jofra can bowl fast but Mark Wood can bowl super fast. The wicket was as expected. The plans were very basic – to bowl on a length and straight. There is a huge amount of competition within side and it is a huge boost for anyone scoring runs. It is a completely different format of the game. We have been on tours, where the white-ball guys have played first and not played well and likewise. He (Wood) is excellent, like our batting unit our bowling unit has competition for places. We will be up against it a lot of times and it is important to produce your best.