England kept India under control restricting them to 147/7 in their innings at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.
Moeen Ali (Photo: AFP)
England bowling unit, led by Moeen Ali (2/21) who claimed his T20I-best spell on Thursday, kept India under control restricting them to 147/7 in their innings at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.
Wicketkeeper batsman MS Dhoni (36) remained the top scorer for India as the whole batting line-up collapsed like a pack of dominoes.
Captain Kohli (29) decided to open the Indian innings with KL Rahul, though the opening pair couldn’t stand for long.
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India suffered first jolt in the fifth over, when Rahul (8) was dismissed by a wonder delivery of Chris Jordan(1/27). Jordan’s quick delivery took the top edge of Rahul’s willow and Adil Rashid, who was positioned at short fine leg, did the rest of the task.
Following Rahul’s dismissal, Kohli too returned to the pavilion in the eighth over. England off-spinner Ali trapped the big fish, bowling a flighted delivery on the stumps, which was misjudged by the Indian captain and his counterpart Eoin Morgan caught safely to join the carnival.
Middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh also failed to impress at Kanpur as he lost his wicket cheaply for 12 runs. It was Rashid, who stole all limelight in Yuvraj’s dismissal, taking a stunning catch, diving forward at fine leg.
Local boy from Uttar Pradesh, Suresh Raina, who was carried a lot of expectations, collapsed midway. Raina managed to score 34 runs off 23 balls with the help of four fours and a six.
Spectators at the Green Park, went into a mute mode when Ben Stokes’ leg stump yorker sneaked past his left heel and bowled him. Raina last played for India in March last year and was making his comeback today.
The 30-year-old southpaw couldn’t do much wonders with the willow, though he would look to support India’s bowling attack with his part time but effective off-spin.
India’s pinch hitters at the lower-middle order, Manish Pandey (3) and Hardik Pandya (8) were dismissed by Ali and Tymal Mills (1/27) respectively.
Debutant Parvez Rasool (6) sacrificed his wicket for the team in the last over.
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