Rain washes out the 1st T20 after India put in a competitive score
India – 189/7 (Abhishek Sharma 59 (24 balls), Shreyas Iyer 68 (47 balls), Shivam Dube 42* (21 balls), Saqib Mahmood 33/3)
No Result – Match abandoned due to rain.
The 1st T20I between India and England was abandoned due to rain. After enduring plenty of drama in the last couple of weeks, both teams would have liked to focus back on their cricket. India, losing their first T20I series in almost three years to a much lower-ranked team, and England, suffering the unpleasant aftertaste of the retirement of a legend under less-than-ideal circumstances, would have been hoping for a full match.
India made some strange choices. Winning the toss, they elected to bat in overcast and gloomy conditions. And on top of it, they fielded only two specialist seamers along with three spinners. The misfiring top order remained unchanged despite calls to introduce Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The Indian innings started on an ominous note as a jittery-looking Sanju couldn’t keep his cut shot down and was caught at point.
Ishan Kishan, the recently crowned No. 1 T20I batter, ran for a non-existent single and was run out for the second consecutive match. At 6/2 within the second over, India would have been feeling quite uneasy. Abhishek Sharma, as he usually does, took the attack to the bowlers, latching onto anything full. Initially peppering the cover boundary, he took a special liking to Saqib Mahmood as the bowler then started bowling short at his body, pulling merrily over the backward point area, plundering 16 runs in 3 balls. Next, Luke Wood was clattered for 3 boundaries in as many balls as Abhishek started making room and carved away through the off side.
Abhishek cutting loose also meant that Shreyas Iyer at the other end could bide his time and build his innings. Despite losing early wickets, the powerplay score was a healthy 61/2. With the spinners coming to bowl, Shreyas looked increasingly comfortable, milking singles and twos, and latching on to anything short to cut away towards the backward point boundary. Wary of the longer boundaries, he resisted attempting to hit sixes.
Abhishek soon completed another rapid half-century in just 20 balls. As long as he was at the crease, the run rate was comfortably over 10, and India were looking at something above 200. Almost against the run of play, he was trapped LBW by a Sam Curran legcutter. Tilak Verma then played another scratchy innings as he struggled to get going. Surviving a close leg before shout against Will Jacks, he was finally put out of his misery as he scooped a full toss from Mahmood straight to short fine leg.
This was not necessarily a bad thing, as the next batsman was Dube, and India required some momentum. Shreyas Iyer reached his half-century in 38 balls. The relief was palpable as he finally allowed himself to go aerial against the bowling of Luke Wood with an exquisite lofted cover drive for six. Next, a perfectly executed pull off Mahmood raced towards deep midwicket for a boundary. Trying to force the pace, he was finally dismissed LBW to a fuller delivery from the impressive Mahmood, who finished with 3 wickets.
This was an important innings from Shreyas as he would have liked some runs under his belt to build up his confidence. No matter how good a player one is, a lean patch is bound to affect anybody, especially one who is coming back into the team after a while and is immediately made captain.
The responsibility of the final push then fell on Dube. Not somebody who relies too much on twos and threes, he took a heavy toll on Rashid with two mighty sixes and a boundary. Dropped off the bowling of Sam Curran in the last over as he mistimed a full toss, he made them pay with a powerful pull shot, resulting in the ball sailing out of the ground. He finished unbeaten on 42 off 21 balls.
200 could have been a possibility, but Axar Patel and Harshit Rana at the other end managed a combined 3 runs in 6 balls. Still, a score of 189/7 was considered an above-par total. One factor that could have hampered India was the presence of three spinners in the team. There was drizzling of varied intensity throughout the Indian innings, and the wet field would have certainly made life difficult for them.
With the rain getting heavier, the match was abandoned, and one can only wonder about the effectiveness of the Indian attack in these conditions. As for the Indian batting, some boxes have been ticked, but a few remain unresolved, and we would hope to find the answers by the end of this series.