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INDvENG, 1st T20I: Thumping victory to kickstart the series!

By Mumbai Indians

A joyous beginning in the City of Joy, indeed! 🤗

The Indian cricket team began from where they left off against the Proteas, making light work of England in the series opener at the Eden Gardens.

Put in to bat first, Jos Buttler led as the lone warrior, registering a fighting half-century.

With a target of 133 in sight, it was only a matter of time before the reigning T20I champions sealed the deal! Let’s dive right into the details… ⬇️

Arshdeep Singh – India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is

Arsh Paaji, aate hi s̷h̷u̷r̷u̷ record set kar diye! 👏

The 25-year-old didn’t waste any time in making the inroads, getting the better of Phil Salt and Ben Duckett in his opening spell itself.

In the process, he took his T20I wickets tally to 97, surpassing Yuzvendra Chahal to become Team India’s leading wicket-taker in T20I history! 💪

At the end of the powerplay, England’s scorecard read 46/2.

Englishmen have no answers for Varun’s magic!

Varun Chakaravarthy, fresh from his exploits in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, extended his fine run of form in this contest as well.

The eighth over saw the right-arm spinner dismiss dangerous-looking Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone, who were left bamboozled by his mysterious deliveries. Ek number bowling re, Varun! 🔥 Watch here:

Later in the innings, he sent Jos Buttler packing for a 44-ball 68 as Nitish Kumar Reddy took a terrific catch, running in from deep square leg. Shaabash, Nitish! 🙌

Gujju boys’ jalso ft. HP and Baapu!

Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel joined the party, chipping in with two wickets each.

While aamchya Pandya removed Jacob Bethell and Jofra Archer; Axar Patel sent Jamie Overton and Gus Atkinson back to pavilion.

All-in-all, a jhakaas performance by our bowlers meant the visitors could only muster 132 in their quota of 20 overs. On to the batters to continue the momentum…

A comfortable chase in the end!

Openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma came out all guns blazing, with the latter completing a magnificent fifty off just 20 balls, the second fastest for India versus England in T20Is. 🤩

Sanju chettan took Gus Atkinson to the cleaners in the second over itself, smashing 𝟒,𝟒,𝟎,𝟔,𝟒,𝟒 to make the fans go WOAHHHH!

The onslaught continued as the opposition bowlers looked seemingly clueless in their quest to halt the juggernaut.

Following the terrific opening act, Tilak Varma capped off the proceedings in the 13th over, taking their team home comfortably by seven wickets! 😎

 

Brief scores: England 132/10 (Jos Buttler 68, Varun Chakaravarthy 3/23) lost to India 133/3 (Abhishek Sharma 79, Jofra Archer 2/21) by seven wickets.