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The Indian cricket team started the white-ball series in an emphatic fashion as they thrashed England by 50 runs in the first T20I of the three-match series at the Rose Bowl in Southampton in the early hours of Friday, July 8.

Led by talismanic captain Rohit Sharma, India rode on an impressive all-round show from star all-rounder Hardik Pandya to help the visitors take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.

Defending a challenging total of 199, Pandya’s four-wicket haul and Yuzvendra Chahal’s two wickets helped India bowl out England for 148 in 19.3 overs.

England’s newly-appointed limited-overs captain Jos Buttler had a night to forget as he was dismissed for a golden duck with India’s premier fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar producing a peach of an in-swinger to clean him up in the first over of the run-chase.

Pandya soon joined the party as he showed his incredible all-round capabilities to remove David Malan (21), Liam Livingstone (0) and Jason Roy (4 ) to put England under immense pressure at the end of the first six overs.

Reeling at 33/4, England’s Harry Brook and Moeen Ali stitched a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket before leg-spinner Chahal provided the tourists a much-needed breakthrough as he removed the England debutant for 28.

Chahal continued to impress as he bagged the important wicket of Ali for 36.

Apart from all-rounder Chris Jordan, who remained unbeaten on 26 off 17 balls, the rest of the England batters failed to show any resistance as they were skittle out for 148.

Earlier, Hardik Pandya’s maiden T20I fifty and valuable knocks from Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda helped India post an impressive total of 198/8 in their allotted 20 overs.

After captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first, the visitors got off to a solid start.

Rohit, who recently recovered from COVID-19, looked in great touch before he was dismissed for 14-ball 24 by England off-spinner Moeen Ali.

Fresh from his maiden T20I century against Ireland, Deepak Hooda joined Ishan Kishan as he continued his scintillating form by smashing two sixes off Ali in the fifth over.

However, India suffered another blow as Kishan struggled to get going as he was back in the hut for eight runs off 10 balls.

Flamboyant batter Suryakumar Yadav joined Hooda to continue India’s aggressive strokeplay as the Men in Blue posted 66/2 at the end of the powerplay, registering the highest score in the first six overs at this venue in the T20I format.

Hooda and Yadav started accumulating their runs in boundaries before England pacer Chris Jordan removed the Baroda all-rounder for 33 off just 17 balls. Hooda’s knock comprised of three fours and two sixes.

In-form Hardik Pandya, who joined Yadav, clearly showed his intent from the start as he smashed England leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson for two dazzling fours to bring up India’s hundred in just 9.4 overs.

Pandya and Yadav continued to smash the English bowlers before Jordan picked his second wicket of the match as he claimed the wicket of dangerous looking Yadav for 19-ball 39.

India decided to promote all-rounder Axar Patel ahead of wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik in order to lengthen the batting order.

Axar and Hardik forged a 45-run stand in five overs before the southpaw departed for 17 off 12 balls.

Pandya notched up his maiden T20I fifty but was quickly dismissed by left-arm pacer Reece Topley.

England later scripted a mini-comeback in the final three overs as they conceded just 20 runs and removed Karthik (11) and Harshal Patel (3) in the final over as India ended their innings at 198/8.

Jordan and Ali were the standout bowlers for England, picking two wickets each.

India’s almost 200-run total proved to be a match-winning score as the England batters never looked like they were in a position to chase the target.

India and England will resume rivalry in the second T20I at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday, July 9.