Suryakumar Yadav’s India kicked off the series with a convincing 7-wicket victory over England in the first T20I. They capitalized on every single opportunity that came their way, and dominated right from the first ball of the game.
On that note, let us have a look at three reasons behind India’s dominating victory over England in the first T20I:
1) Arshdeep Singh’s double blow to put Suryakumar Yadav’s side ahead
Walking out to open for England were two absolutely destructive batters – Phil Salt and Ben Duckett. In the buildup to the game, Arshdeep Singh‘s new ball spells were one of the most anticipated matchups.
It would be fair to say that Arshdeep Singh did not disappoint his skipper – Suryakumar Yadav, and truly came out on top as he dented England’s first innings with a crucial double blow early on in the innings.
He got rid of both the English openers, which put England in a spot of bother, with not enough depth in their batting. The left-arm pacer was getting it to move off the pitch, and the seam movement simply made it too tough for both Phil Salt and Ben Duckett, who were dismissed off leading edges.
Arshdeep Singh, with the new ball, has been amongst the best in the world ever since his debut. In his first spells in the powerplay, he gets it to swing both ways and causes batters trouble all the time, specially with the angle he creates as a left-arm pacer.
He has been such an asset for India, and has already become India’s highest wicket taker in T20 Internationals, grabbing 97 scalps at a phenomenal strike rate of just over 13.
Suryakumar Yadav would hope for some more Arshdeep Singh brilliance as this exciting series progresses.
2) Varun Chakravarthy triggering an English collapse
Even after the early wickets, a promising partnership had begun to flourish between Jos Butler and Harry Brook.
Just when it looked like they were about to shift gears and take the attack to Suryakumar Yadav’s bowlers, Varun Chakravarthy struck twice in an over sending both Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone back to the hut with a couple of wickets in just three deliveries.
Varun Chakravarthy turned the game on its head and put india back on the front foot. His mystery spin ever since his comeback into the international set up has been very tough to read from the hand, and has been the ideal sort of bowling for T20 cricket.
With just the perfect amount of loop and pace, Varun Chakravarthy’s googlies found the better of Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone, getting India two massive wickets in the context of the game.
3) Abhishek Sharma’s onslaught
Abhishek Sharma has been the talk of the town since the stellar IPL season that he had last year. He is known for his explosive batting, but consistency has been an issue with him.
He has regularly been scoring those quickfire 20s and 30s, but ideally, India would want him to score big more consistently.
He did exactly that against England, scoring a magnificent 79 off just 34 deliveries. He was cautious early on, but the target being fairly less gave him that cushion to just protect his wicket in the opening few overs, get his eye in, and then go all out.
The southpaw scored 10 runs off his first six deliveries, and despite losing Suryakumar Yadav for a duck, he ended up scoring 69 off his next 24 balls. He got into lovely positions, and used Mark Wood’s pace to perfection.
The youngster regularly moved in the crease, making room for himself and pouncing upon anything that was short and wide. With short boundaries, all he had to do was get some amount of blade on the ball.
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