Chester-le-Street. On the basis of excellent half-centuries by opener Abhishek Sharma (59) and captain Shreyas Iyer (68) and Shivam Dubey’s brilliant innings of unbeaten 42 runs, India set a challenging score in the first T20 match against England on Wednesday. India had scored 189 runs for seven wickets, but in the end rain overshadowed the hopes of the Indian team and the match had to be cancelled.
There was light rain on the field during the Indian innings, but as soon as the innings ended, the rain intensified. There was still 45 minutes of cut-off time left to restart play, but groundsmen did not have enough time to prepare the ground and the rain continued. It would have been a very interesting chase given the tight score India put on the board, but no one got the chance ahead of the season. Now both the teams will leave for Manchester for the second T20 match to be held on Saturday.
Earlier, India won the toss and decided to bat first, but they had a very bad start. The team lost its two wickets in the second over itself. Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan returned to the pavilion cheaply, where Kishan became the victim of run out for the second consecutive time.
India’s score in the first three overs was 2 wickets for 15 runs. However, after this, Abhishek Sharma soon picked up the pace with tremendous batting, while captain Shreyas Iyer held the other end firmly. Thanks to these two, India scored 46 runs in the next 3 overs. Abhishek played a stormy inning of 59 runs in just 24 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes. As soon as he hit his second six during this innings, he also completed his 100 sixes in T20 cricket.
Abhishek Sharma was out after completing his half-century, which gave England a chance to regain some control in the match after the 10th over. After this, Shreyas Iyer along with Tilak Verma took the Indian innings forward. After taking his time initially, Shreyas scored his first T20 half-century as captain. He scored 68 runs in 47 balls, which included six fours and a six.
Shivam Dubey attacked the England bowlers fiercely in the last overs. Dubey played an aggressive inning of 42 not out with the help of two fours and three sixes off just 21 balls, helping India post a strong and slightly above average score of 189 runs despite incessant rain.
Due to continuous rain it became difficult to grip the ball. In such a situation, it was believed that it would be very difficult for the Indian spinners to bowl in the second innings, although the fast bowlers were definitely getting some reverse swing in the slog overs of the first innings. Saqib Mahmood was most successful in bowling for England, who took three wickets for 33 runs. Apart from them, Rashid Khan and Sam Curran got one wicket each.
Indian opener Abhishek Sharma has made the record of scoring the fastest century of sixes in T20. He achieved this feat by hitting his second six in the first T20 against England on Wednesday. Abhishek has become the fifth Indian batsman to hit 100 T20 sixes after Rohit Sharma (205), Suryakumar Yadav (179), Hardik Pandya (126) and Virat Kohli (124). Fewest balls to reach 100 sixes in T20
785 – Abhishek Sharma
789 – Evin Lewis
871 – Finn Allen
931 – Tim David
963 – Colin Munro
1007 – Suryakumar Yadav
