England’s new white-ball era under Brendon McCullum began in defeat as the tourists fell to a heavy seven-wicket defeat against a rampant India side in the opening T20I at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
England were bowled out for just 132 after being put into bat in Kolkata having slipped to 65-4 early on.
Captain Jos Buttler’s 68 from 44 balls was the only score of note as wickets consistently fell around him.
In reply, India powered to 133 with seven overs to spare as Abhishek Sharma (79) raced to a 20-ball half-century, reaching his milestone with a maximum over fine leg.
The hosts take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series with the second T20 in Chennai on Saturday.
England’s struggles began as soon as openers Phil Salt (0) and Ben Duckett (4) were dismissed by Arshdeep Singh (2-17) early on while Liam Livingstone (0) and Harry Brook (17) were also dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy (3-23) in the same over after Brook and Buttler had tried to mount a fightback.
But wickets fell regularly as Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel also took two each.
India wasted no time in the run chase despite Jofra Archer (2-21) striking twice in one over to remove Sanju Samson (26) and India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav (0) to leave them 41-2.
Adil Rashid (1-27) earned the prized scalp of Sharma in the 12th over, who struck five fours and eight sixes before he fell with only eight more runs required for victory.
McCullum’s white-ball era begins in loss
England’s Phil Salt walks off the field after being dismissed for a duck
Salt was dismissed for a duck in the first over while Duckett was caught by Rinku Singh at midwicket as Arshdeep became India’s leading wicket-taker in the short format.
Brook briefly looked dangerous in his 48-run partnership with his captain but had his cameo ended by Chakravarthy, who then removed Livingstone for a duck one ball later.
Jacob Bethell (7) became Pandya’s first wicket after he holed out to Sharma at deep midwicket.
India’s spinners then backed up the performance their seamers made earlier as Jamie Overton (2) miscued a drive and Gus Atkinson (2) was stumped, both off Patel (2-22).
Buttler, who reached his 26th T20I half-century, perished at the hands of Nitish Kumar Reddy who took a stunning diving catch at deep midwicket.
Archer added 12, only the third player in England’s line-up to reach double figures, but carved Pandya out to point as England’s ship continued to sink.
Rashid (8no) and Mark Wood (1) were desperate to get runs in the dying moments of England’s innings but the latter was run out by Samson with a direct hit off the final ball of the innings.
India’s Abhishek Sharma, right, celebrates his half-century
India dominated on home turf, racing to 41-0 with Samson (26) and Sharma (79) sharing an opening stand worth 41 runs.
Archer (2-21) hurried Samson who picked out Atkinson at deep midwicket before removing India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav (0) for a three-ball duck in the same over.
However, those wickets did not break India’s momentum as Tilak Varma combined with Sharma in an 84-run stand to lead the hosts to a dominant win.
Buttler: We were outplayed
England captain Jos Buttler speaking to TNT Sports:
“There was a little bit in the wicket early on and we probably didn’t expect that.
“I thought they found a bit of movement early on and if you come through that, it is a good scoring pitch and fast ground here.
“You want to enforce the game you want to play and we weren’t quite capable of doing that today. We are better for the run-out and are looking forward to the next one.
“We want to be aggressive, we want to be watchable, and we are up against a team who are ultra-aggressive as well.
“I am really enjoying the environment. I was a big McCullum fan when he was playing and stuff so it is great to be working with him in the dressing room now.”
Suryakumar: We brought right energy from the off
India captain Suryakumar Yadav speaking to TNT Sports:
“I think the energy and the way we started after the toss set the benchmark.
“We took it from there. All the bowlers having their own plans and executing that.
“Then, the batting was the icing on the cake.”
T20 international series in India (January-February)
All times UK and Ireland
- First T20: Wednesday January 22 – Eden Gardens, Kolkata- India win by seven wickets
- Second T20: Saturday January 25 (1.30pm) – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
- Third T20: Tuesday January 28 (1.30pm) – Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot
- Fourth T20: Friday January 31 (1.30pm) – Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
- Fifth T20: Sunday February 2 (1.30pm) – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
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