Kolkata, Jan 22 Abhishek Sharma smashed a scintillating 79 to help India chase down 133 inside 13 overs and beat England by seven wickets in the T20I series opener at the Eden Gardens here on Wednesday. The result also helped India go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
After wrist-spinner Varun Chakravarthy shone with figures of 3-23 as India’s bowlers put in a magnificent performance to bowl out England for just 132, Abhishek provided an absolute masterclass on opening the batting in the shortest format, hitting five boundaries and eight sixes in his 34-ball stay.
He mixed finesse and brute force in getting 68 out of 79 runs from boundaries and played a leading role in getting a comprehensive win for India. India’s chase began on a bright note as Sanju Samson hit four boundaries and a six in the second over to take 22 runs off Gus Atkinson.
Abhishek got off the mark by flaying and carving Jofra Archer over the off-side for four and six respectively. But Archer bounced back as he rushed Samson on the pull and had him caught at deep mid-wicket. One brought two for the pacer as Suryakumar gave a leading edge on the pull and was caught out for a two-ball duck.
From there on, the Abhishek show began as he flicked, carved, and smashed Mark Wood for two sixes and a four. After being dropped by Adil Rashid off his own bowling, Abhishek cut, flicked, and dispatched the leg-spinner for one four and two sixes. He then reached his fifty in 20 balls by hooking Jamie Overton for six.
Abhishek’s carnage continued as he lofted Liam Livingstone for four, before smashing Atkinson for three boundaries. After lofting Rashid with the spin over extra cover for six and being dropped on the very next ball, Abhishek’s entertaining knock ended when he mistimed a googly to long-off. Tilak Varma hit three boundaries in his unbeaten 16-ball 19, including the winning run, to complete India’s chase with 43 balls to spare.
Brief scores:
England 132 al out in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 68; Varun Chakaravarthy 3-23, Arshdeep Singh 2-17) lost to India 133/3 in 12.5 overs (Abhishek Sharma 79; Jofra Archer 2-21) by seven wickets
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