Alastair Cook reserved high praises for the Indian team’s performance in the first T20I fixture of the five-match series against England on Wednesday (January 22) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The former England skipper deemed India as ‘powerful’, while terming the visitors as ‘rusty’.
The Suryakumar Yadav-led side won the toss and opted to bowl first, which worked wonders for them. Arshdeep Singh dismissed dangerous batters Phil Salt (0) and Ben Duckett (4) to become India’s highest wicket-taker in the shortest format. Nevertheless, skipper Jos Buttler made good use of the powerplay to end with 46 runs.
Although, vice-captain Harry Brook (17) exuded confidence with his good start, India’s mystery spinner made him drag the ball on to the stumps. In the same over, Varun Chakravarthy went through the gates of Liam Livingstone to send him packing for a duck.
Thereafter, Buttler (68 off 44) played a valiant knock, before becoming Chakravarthy’s third dismissal, as Nitish Kumar Reddy plucked a stunning diving catch. In the end, England were dismissed for 132.
In response, Sanju Samson gave a sensational start to the Indian team, while taking out 22 runs from the second over bowled by Gus Atkinson. However, Jofra Archer got rid of Samson (26) and Suryakumar (0) in quick successions. Undettered by the dismissals, Abhishek Sharma unleashed his attacking prowess against an experienced English unit.
Sharma went on slam 79 off 34, with five fours and eight sixes, before getting dismissed by Adil Rashid. Tilak Varma (19*) and Hardik Pandya (3*) remained unbeaten to seal the chase for India with 43 balls to spare. Archer was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors with figures of 2/21.
After the game, Alastair Cook opined that England’s lack of preparation time was quite visible in their lackluster performance in the first fixture of the series. He then stated there was a small margin of error for England bowlers, as India were quite better than the visitors in all the departments.
“Ultimately, England looked a little bit rusty,” Cook said on TNT Sports. “Almost just getting into the tour, which is kind of the modern way on these schedules.
“India were far too good and powerful for them.
“They will be better for the run out. I hate using that as a get out, and everybody seems to do it, because there is a lack of preparation time.”
Jos Buttler was caught off-guard by India’s bowling in powerplay
England captain Jos Buttler admitted to getting surprised by the movement Indian bowlers were able to extract from the Eden Gardens surface with the new ball. Buttler thinks the double-strike by Arshdeep Singh put them on the backfoot, but also feels that the surface was good for the rest of the innings to score runs.
“There was a little bit in the wicket early on, and we probably didn’t expect that,” Buttler said in the post-match presentation. “It looked like a really good wicket.”
“They found a little bit of movement and we lost a couple of wickets. But if you come through that phase, it’s a pretty good pitch and obviously a really fast scoring ground here,” he added.
Moreover, Buttler praised India’s attacking mindset, and expressed his excitement on what is in offer for the remaining games.
“We want to be aggressive, we want to be watchable. We are up against a team who are ultra-aggressive as well, so it’s really exciting,” he added.
