India vs England, 2021: 1st T20I - Shreyas Iyer creates new milestones, consecutive ducks for Kohli, Chahal attains the top spot and more stats

The Indian team had an unforgettable start to their T20I campaign as they were dismantled by England in the first match of the five-match T20I series. The visiting captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and invited India to bat first. The hosts had a horrific beginning to their innings as they lost the first three wickets for just 20 runs. India’s top 3 could not cross the single-digit scores leaving the team in trouble early on.

Shreyas Iyer with a vital knock of 67 runs off 48 balls lifted the home side to a respectable total of 124/7 in 20 overs. Iyer hit 8 fours and 1 six in his knock and shared a 54-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Hardik Pandya. Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowlers for the English side as he took 3 wickets for 23 runs including 1 maiden over. 

England won this match very comfortably as they chased down the total with 8 wickets in hand. Jason Roy top-scored for them hitting 49 runs off 32 balls with the help of 4 fours and 3 sixes. Jonny Bairstow played a quickfire knock of 26 runs off 17 balls, in the end, to bury India’s hope for a win if there were any left. Jofra Archer was adjudged player of the match for putting the hosts under pressure from the very start.    

Let’s look at important stats and numbers after the end of the first T20I between India and England:

A bad start of India in the series yet again

2 – In recent times, the Indian team have failed to start with a win in most of the International series. In the last 10 series, India have lost the first match on 8 occasions while winning just 2 in the process.  

Consecutive ducks for captain Kohli

2 – Virat Kohli got out for a duck falling to Adil Rashid on the 5th ball of his innings. Earlier, Virat was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the fourth Test. This is the first time in the Indian skipper’s international career that he has got out for a nought in two consecutive innings. 

14 – With a duck in the first T20I, Virat now has an unwanted record for most ducks (14) by an Indian captain across formats. He has surpassed Sourav Ganguly (13) in this regard after a dismal performance in Ahmedabad. 

Milestones for Shreyas Iyer

67 – Shreyas Iyer’s valiant knock of 67 runs has earned him some significant records. This was the third-highest individual by an Indian batsman in T20Is while batting at number 5. This was also Iyer’s highest score in the shortest format so far.

3 – The prolific batsman smashed his third fifty in T20Is, and is now at the joint second position in terms of most 50+ scores for India while batting at number 4 or lower. Yuvraj Singh tops the list in this regard with eight 50+ scores. 

Chahal attains top spot

60 – Yuzvendra Chahal took 1 wicket in this match and his wickets tally in T20Is has gone to 60. He has surpassed Jasprit Bumrah now and has become the highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is.

100 – This was also the 100th International game for the leg-spinner. He has played 54 ODIs and 46 T20Is so far.