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| Jason Roy missed out his 50 by 1 run |
The conclusion of the 4 match Paytm Test Series between India and England which saw the hosts win 3-1 and qualify for the World Test Championship, the second leg of this tour kicked off as the 5 match T20I Series between them. These matches are expected to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
India game into the series with full of confidence. These 5 match series of the shortest format of the game is a perfect chance for players to get in form for the upcoming Dream11 IPL which is scheduled to take place in April next month.
England after losing the test series knew that they had blown away the chance of playing New Zealand in the WTC Finals in their own backyard at the Lord's Cricket Ground. A strong performance was needed from the visitors to give some form of entertainment back home in England.
England's limited over Captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to bowl first, most probably due to the dew factor in the second innings.
For India Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvenshwar Kumar and Yuzi Chahal all returned. Whereas for England Jason Roy, Eoin Morgan,Jos Buttler, D Malan, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan and Mark Wood all made way in.
England did their homework and made sure India won't get a good start as they strucked twice in the first 3 overs to dismiss KL Rahul and Virat Kohli for 1 and 0 respectively as India were down to 3/2 in 2.3 overs as Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid picked up the Wickets.
The plan for England to enter the match with 4 seamers worked perfectly as India lost two more wickets after Mark Wood bowled out Shikhar Dhawan before Stokes got the better of Pant and left India strangling at 48/4 in 9 overs.
India needed a partnership and they got one. Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya kept the scoreboard moving and soon India saw them in a comfortable position at 102/4 in 16 overs with both of them still in the middle.
However Jofra Archer had other ideas. He strucked out Hardik Pandya at the second ball of the 18th over, before wrapping Thakur in his trap of the short ball in the next ball and India went from 102/4 to 102/6.
All the momentum shifted to England's favour and despite Shreyas Iyer's brillant knock of 67 runs of 48 balls, India were just able to manage 124 runs with the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs. This is the lowest total India have every tried to defend.
There was no suck problem for England with the bat. The opening duo of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler played their natural aggressive style of gameplay and added 72 runs in just 8 overs. Buttler lost his wicket at the end of the 8th over as he judged LBW by Yuzi Chahal.
Jason Roy was joined by D Malan. The aggressive style of batting continued for England as they were out there to make a statement not only to India but to everyone else for the T20 World Cup.
Roy was however unlucky as he missed out his deserving half century by 1 run as he was judged out by another LBW, this time by Washington Sundar. He took his time and reviewed it at the last second. He was judged by the Umpire's Call and had to walk at 49 runs from 32 balls.
England would go on to finish the game in the 16th over as they scored 130/2 in just 15.3 overs to claim a huge win which will surely skyrocket their morale by 8 wickets with 27 balls remaining.
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