In the first T20I of India tour of England 2022, India beat England by 50 runs at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. India lost a wicket early in the inning but yet managed to get a decent start courtesy of quick-fire knocks by captain Sharma (24) and Deepak Hooda (33). Suryakumar Yadav (39) also batted beautifully and kept the momentum going. Hardik Pandya (51) scored a brilliant half-century which ensured that the Men in Blue get a huge total at the end of the first inning. Axar Patel (17) and Dinesh Karthik (11) also hit boundaries in the final few overs, helping India reach 198/8 in 20 overs. Except for Patel, every batsman who scored more than 10 runs played at a strike rate of more than 150.
While it looked like the pitch is good to bat on, England got all calculations wrong today as no batter got going while chasing. David Malan (21) got some runs under his belt but couldn’t take it forward. Harry Brook (28) along with Moeen Ali (36) also tried their best but England kept losing wickets at regular intervals which cost them the first T20I.
Hardik Pandya registered his best bowling figures tonight as he scalped four wickets and just gave 33 runs away. Yuzvendra Chahal along with debutant Arshdeep Singh claimed two wickets. Moreover, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel got a wicket each.
For England, Chris Jordan and Moeen Ali picked up two wickets. Along with them, Tymal Mills, Reece Topley and Mathew Parkinson got one wicket each.
Hardik Pandya was awarded Man of the Match for his brilliant all-round performance. Following this win, India goes one up in the three-match T20I series.
Scorecard:
India: 198/8, Overs 20, Hardik Pandya 51, Chris Jordan 2/23
England: 148/10, Overs 19.3, Moeen Ali 36, Hardik Pandya 4/33