That’s the end of a perfect day for England. They produced a proper team performance, to the extent that nobody failed, with the bat or the ball. Every bowler took a wicket apart from Sam Curran, who induced the mighty Rishabh Pant to duck his bouncer in a triumph of sorts. And all of the top four made at least 20, which is a lot more than the top order was managing in the Test series. For India, only Shreyas Iyer, who stroked the sole fifty of the match, can be satisfied with his evening’s work. Thanks for your company and correspondence, and the OBO will be back at lunchtime on Sunday to see if India can turn the tables on England again.
Updated
The player of the match is Jofra Archer, who finished with his best figures in T20 internationals, three for 23. He’s holding a trophy that puts even his gold chain in the shade. “When the competition’s tough,” he says, “you’ve gotta step up.”
He gives a glimpse of his thinking when he takes the new ball in T20. “I’d rather go for dot balls in the PowerPlay than wickets, but obviously wickets help the team.”
How’s the Xbox going? “Going very good,” he says with a big smile. “We’ve got our own personal wifi box in our room, so everything’s good.” That is a relief.
Updated
And here’s Eoin Morgan. “The wicket was as expected,” he says, perhaps mischievously. “The plans were very basic – hit a good length, straight – and we didn’t have to go to plan B or C which is always a good sign.” When Jason Roy scores runs, he adds, “it really does gee the boys up.”
Asked about the change in England since the Tests, he doesn’t think much of it: “It’s a completely different form of the game.” But he does warn that later in the series “we will be up against it”.
Updated
Here’s Virat Kohli. “We just weren’t aware enough of what we had to do on that kind of a pitch,” he says. “Lack of execution on the shots we tried to play... The wicket probably didn’t allow you as a batsman to hit the shots you wanted to,” he adds, which is true, but also a bit rich coming from someone who said, just the other day, “the reason for our success as a team is that we’ve never cribbed about the pitches”. Then, to be fair, he holds his hand up: “It was just a below-par batting performance from us today and England made us pay for it.”
“Better than a slap in the face,” says Jason Roy. Yes, he really said that. He’s pleased with 49 but he gives most of the credit to the bowlers. “To come out and bowl and field like that was great.” Asked about facing spin, which hasn’t been his strong point lately, he mentions that he had a lot of practice against Adil Rashid in the nets, “working on my skills”. He and Jos Buttler then pick up an award for (I think) the partnership of the match.
“Crowing is fair enough,” says John Starbuck. Why do I feel there’s a but coming? “But look what happened after the last time England beat India in the first match of the series. I suspect we’ll need Moeen as well as Rashid next time.” Yes, probably. It was a surprising pitch, offering only gentle turn, and the lavish bounce seemed to be on a fast bowler’s length rather than doing anything for the spinners. It was payback time for the pink-ball Test: England got it right with their battalion of seamers, and India played one spinner too many – although the game was half-gone before they even bowled a ball.
The next T20 World Cup, which should have taken place in Australia last autumn, is now down for India this autumn. Ahmedabad is one of the venues and England have put in some immaculate prep today. Jofra Archer was back to his immense best, fast and accurate, and Mark Wood was faster still. The whole bowling performance was reminiscent of England’s very first T20, when they caught Australia cold and bombed them to bits. That paved the way for the 2005 Ashes win. This, alas, has come too late to help the Test team, but it had the same ferocity.
Malan finishes on 24 not out, Bairstow on 26. England have four openers in this format and they all made at least 20 today, whereas India’s innings was a lone hand from Shreyas Iyer. His classy 67 couldn’t make up for the calamity suffered by India’s top three, who made five between them. The decision to leave out Rohit Sharma could not have backfired more spectacularly.
England win by eight wickets!
Dawid Malan lofts Sundar for six and England win with four and a half overs to spare. They have absolutely bossed this. It’s been a wonderful performance and a terrible contest.
Updated
15th over: England 122-2 (Malan 17, Bairstow 25) Bairstow keeps calm enough to nudge Thakur for a single. He then calls Malan for a much quicker single, and would have run him out had Thakur’s sharp throw hit the stumps. A couple more singles, and England need only two more.
14th over: England 114-2 (Malan 15, Bairstow 22) Bairstow enjoyed that straight smear so much, he plays it again off Sundar, for four this time. And then there’s a row, as Sundar appears to accuse Bairstow (at the non-striker’s end) of obstructing the field. Malan had chipped the ball in his partner’s direction, and Bairstow, turning away, headed it. His body language, always straightforward, says “what else could I do?” and the umpire seems to agree.
13th over: England 107-2 (Malan 14, Bairstow 16) After getting his eye in with a single or two, Jonny B goes for it, giving Chahal the charge and chipping for six. Flicking the next ball, he almost gives Dhawan a catch at deep square. Riding his luck, he hits another six – that was halfway from a smack to a smear, straight back past the bowler. The camera finds Kohli, wincing: he knows this one has gone.
“There’s not going to be a super over, is there Tim?” says Simon McMahon (5th over). No. “But if there is, have anything you like. Champagne. Whisky. Maybe even a bottle. Lager top if you’re feeling really decadent?” Too kind.
12th over: England 92-2 (Malan 13, Bairstow 2) Jonny Bairstow plays a cut and gets off the mark, which is more than he did in most of his recent Test innings against India. Sundar gets a wicket for only three, but England need just 33 more, so a choke from here would be spectacular even by their standards.
Wicket! Roy LBW b Sundar 49 (England 89-2)
Aha! On comes Washington Sundar, the off-spinner who did more batting than bowling in the Test series. Roy plays outside his first ball, and a review can’t save him as it’s umpire’s call on whether it hit him outside the line. End of a punchy knock – 49 off 32 balls, with three sixes.
Updated
11th over: England 89-1 (Roy 49, Malan 12) Today is Tom Curran’s birthday, but Pandya seems to think it’s Malan’s. He presents him with another gift, shovelled round the corner for four more. England need 36 at exactly four an over. Everyone else needs some excitement.
Updated
10th over: England 81-1 (Roy 47, Malan 7) Another false shot from Malan, who, like Kumar, is bringing some rust. At the halfway stage, with 44 more needed, even England will struggle to mess this one up.
“Roy and Buttler,” wrote Alex Fleetwood before the wicket, “seem to be doing a lot better against India’s bowling attack than their Test counterparts... maybe they should be opening in Tests. Or did we try that already? Roy and Buttler have both opened the batting for England, but did they ever do it at the same time?” No. Buttler has only ever done it twice, when quick runs were needed in the second innings: his average as a Test opener is 2.00, not that it means much. And Roy won’t be doing it again in a hurry after flopping in the 2019 Ashes.
Updated
9th over: England 77-1 (Roy 44, Malan 4) Hardik Pandya comes on with his non-military medium. Malan misses one freebie, bottom-edging a cut, before accepting another, helping a short ball round the corner. Only five off the over, but even that is above the required rate. India, like the late great Leonard Cohen, are waiting for a miracle.
8th over: England 72-1 (Roy 44, Malan 0) Roy can be shaky against spin, but not today. He picks Chahal’s googly, swinging it for four, and then he slog-sweeps for another six. England are playing as if they have a reservation for dinner – but Chahal finds a wicket, so maybe this can still get interesting.
Wicket! Buttler LBW b Chahal 28 (England 72-1)
The breakthrough! Chahal’s leg-break lands on middle and would have hit it too, had Buttler’s pad not got in the way. He sets off without bothering to review. That’s a big scalp, but India need about three more of them. And here comes the world’s top-rated batsman in T20 internationals.
Updated
7th over: England 58-0 (Roy 31, Buttler 27) Roy’s not having this: he gives Axar the heave-ho, slog-sweeping for six. England only need five an over now.
6th over: England 50-0 (Roy 24, Buttler 26) Kumar to Buttler, which should be rust at both ends – one just back from injury, the other from a three-Test rest. Kumar does seem short of rhythm, drifting onto the pads; Buttler doesn’t, helping himself from the hotel buffet. He takes two twos and a four, all on the leg side, and nips past Roy in the race for second place on the day. That’s the PowerPlay done, and it’s all been strangely one-sided. Come on India!
Updated
5th over: England 42-0 (Roy 24, Buttler 18) It’s time, Kohli feels, for a second spell from Axar. Buttler swings him for – two, as KL Rahul manages to prevents by shoving the ball back over the rope before he plants his feet. Clever stuff. Then there’s a review for LBW, Axar’s middle name, but Buttler was well forward and the ball struck him outside the line. Buttler responds by cutting for four and then dancing down the track and on-driving for six. Why couldn’t England do this to Axar in the Tests?
“Ah,” says Abhijato Sensarma, “it’s all looking a bit too dreadful for the Indians, isn’t it? If it’s any consolation, there’s four of these things left – England could very well forget how to play cricket by the time we’re done with this series.”
Updated
4th over: England 29-0 (Roy 24, Buttler 5) Kohli, trying everything, replaces Kumar with Shardul Thakur. Buttler glides past backward point for two, then gets in a tangle trying a ramp and edging into his own thigh. “It’s just not a good pitch to bat on,” says Stuart Broad, whereupon Roy slams a length ball back past the bowler for four. He already has the second-highest score of the match.
3rd over: England 21-0 (Roy 19, Buttler 2) But it will be one spinner replacing another, as Axar hands over to the leg-spin of Yuzvendra Chahal. Roy greets him rather rudely with a six over midwicket, and then gets a fortunate four as a square drive spins past the man at backward point. To cap it all, there’s a Harrow cut for a single. India’s score at this stage, a caption informs us, was 7 for 2.
Updated
2nd over: England 10-0 (Roy 8, Buttler 2) It won’t be spin – it’s Bhuvi Kumar, back from injury. He almost gets a wicket first ball, as Roy mis-hits a chip and picks up a jammy two. Then Roy gets his eye in, swinging over square leg for four. Seven off the over, which is no more than England need.
1st over: England 3-0 (Roy 1, Buttler 2) No turn for the demon Axar, so Roy nurdles a single and Buttler clips for two, both to midwicket. Will it spin be from both ends?
Updated
It’s going to be Axar Patel. The PA misses a trick by not playing some horror-movie music.
India finish on 124
20th over: India 124-7 (Sundar 3, Patel 7) Morgan still had a bit of Rashid up his sleeve as the final over approached. He’s brave, but not that brave, so it’s Jordan, England’s regular death bowler. His slower balls do the trick before a quicker one is thwacked for four to third man by Axar Patel. And that’s the end of a stop-start innings and a delicious display in the field from England. “A near-perfect bowling performance,” says Nasser Hussain. India put on a one-man show by Shreyas Iyer, whereas England staged an ensemble piece with every bowler (and fielder) doing his bit and Jofra Archer merely first among equals.
WinViz now gives England an 85pc chance of victory. What can possibly go wrong?
Updated
Wicket! Iyer c Malan b Jordan 67 (India 117-7)
A slow bouncer, and Iyer hits it straight to Malan at long leg. That’s a tame end to a fine innings, full of timing and tenacity.
Updated
19th over: India 114-6 (Iyer 66, Sundar 2) Archer’s one mistake was not to get rid of Shreyas Iyer, who is in blast mode now, whacking Sam Curran’s short ball for four. Sam keeps it tight otherwise. He’s effectively auditioning for his brother’s role here, so I hope he’s got him a nice birthday present.
“Never watched T20 before,” says Karen Brigden. “It’s the espresso-addled toddler of the cricket family and I am loving it!”
18th over: India 105-6 (Iyer 58, Sundar 1) Archer doesn’t get the hat-trick as his bouncer to Washington Sundar is called a wide, but this over shows again that he is the master of white-ball fast bowling. He finishes with three for 23.
“Breathless stuff here,” says Brian Withington. “I hardly dare lift eyes from screen to type! OBO on steroids, if that’s not an unfortunate connotation today?” Ha. I’m doped up, for sure – the Oxford vaccine.
Wicket! Thakur c Malan b Archer 0 (India 102-6)
Two in two! Promoted to have a slog, Shardul Thakur doesn’t hang around. He hooks Archer’s bouncer straight to long leg. Archer on a hat-trick.
Wicket! Pandya c Jordan b Archer 19 (India 102-5)
Pandya flat-bats Archer to mid-off, where Jordan takes a classy catch, in front of his ankles. End of an excellent partnership: England needed that.
17th over: India 102-4 (Iyer 57, Pandya 19) Jordan replaces Stokes and Iyer takes a single to reach fifty off 36 balls. He’s shown how to bat on this bouncy surface: use the pace, find the gap, ride your luck. He celebrates with his first big shot, an upper cut for six. India have a hundred and a fighting chance.
Updated
16th over: India 92-4 (Iyer 49, Pandya 17) Back comes Archer, and the force is no longer with him. His first ball is on the pads and clipped for four by Iyer, who then eases the next one through backward point. That’s 20 off the past nine balls. Archer digs deep and produces three dots off the last four balls. Good contest!
A tweet from Andy Zaltzman. “India’s 22-3 is their second lowest score in a T20 powerplay, and lowest when batting first. Also the joint lowest powerplay score by a team against England in T20s (Afghanistan were 22-5, batting 2nd, in Colombo in 2012 ICC World T20).” So they were Afghanistan in disguise.
15th over: India 83-4 (Iyer 40, Pandya 17) After pootling along to seven off 12 balls, Pandya goes for it, practises his golf and swings Stokes for six. Expecting a bouncer, he deflects it off his chin for four. That’s superb batting, and at last the complexion of the game changes.
Updated
14th over: India 71-4 (Iyer 39, Pandya 6) Wood stays on to complete his quota. Iyer gets him away for four with a dab that may have been a nick, but Pandya plays and misses attempting something similar. That is eight off the over, so India need to keep it up.
13th over: India 63-4 (Iyer 34, Pandya 3) Chris Jordan is back, making you wonder how Morgan keeps track. And even Jordan is making chin music, smacking Pandya on the hand, like a Victorian teacher. Five off the over, which has been par so far. The big question is whether India can go to eight or nine for the final third of their innings.
12th over: India 58-4 (Iyer 31, Pandya 1) Yet another change as Stokes gives way to Wood. He has a slip, and rightly so. He bowls a snorter to Pandya, climbing from back-of-a-length and ending up in front of Jos Buttler’s eyes. Great stuff from Wood, who has one for 12 from three overs.
Here’s Julia on Twitter, quoting me back at myself. “‘The openers treat Rashid with respect. What do they think this is, a Test match?’ God bless the Over by Over, a lifeline for this Austrian who supports England and New Zealand and doesn’t get any cricket coverage here! #tailendersoftheworlduniteandtakeover.” Ah thanks.
Updated
11th over: India 55-4 (Iyer 29, Pandya 0) Morgan, spoilt for choice, opts to take Curran off after one over and bring back Rashid. Iyer plays a beautiful stroke, an inside-out drive, beating Malan at deep extra: that’s the textbook shot of the day, while Pant gets the prize for improv.
10th over: India 48-4 (Iyer 22, Pandya 0) So that’s the half-way stage and India are in some trouble. Are they, to paraphrase Iggy Pop, deeper than the s*** they’re in? We will see. Hardik Pandya’s a handy guy to have around for the last ten overs, and Iyer has been quietly effective.
Updated
Wicket! Pant c Bairstow b Stokes 21 (India 48-4)
Just when India were clawing their way back, Stokes strikes! Pant clipped him easily off his legs and gave a simple catch to Jonny Bairstow at deep square. That’s the wicket England really wanted, more even than Kohli. Game off again.
Updated
9th over: India 40-3 (Pant 20, Iyer 15) And here is Sam Curran. He’s got a new hairstyle, choppy rather than floppy, but he still has the unstoppable air of a cartoon mouse. His pace is officially known as waspish, and he even persuades Pant to duck a bouncer. Curran switches to round the wicket for the right-handed Iyer and curses himself as a freebie on the pads brings another leg glance for four. These two have already doubled the score.
8th over: India 34-3 (Pant 19, Iyer 10) Eoin Morgan is ringing the changes and now he turns to Ben Stokes, who concedes five singles. That means Sam Curran will be the fifth seamer. It could be worse: he could be his brother Tom, who has been dropped on his 25th birthday. Eoin Morgan has many qualities, but a soft heart isn’t one of them.
Updated
7th over: India 29-3 (Pant 17, Iyer 7) Shreyas Iyer, facing Wood, gets a tickle on another super-quick ball and picks up four. That’s the first boundary not scored by Pant, who has been on a different plane from his team-mates.
“Looks a little bit uneven, this pitch,” says Stuart Broad on commentary. He’s in Wimbledon, WFH. He’ll be doing the OBO next.
Updated
6th over: India 22-3 (Pant 16, Iyer 1) Chris Jordan replaces Archer and keeps up the pressure. India manage to get through a whole over, but their top three have had a shocker here: together they made 5 for 3 off 21 balls.
5th over: India 20-3 (Pant 15, Iyer 0) Rashid had come off, as he had to if Morgan was to have any options in the middle overs. On came Wood, and he touched 94mph with his third ball, whereas Archer was dawdling along at 90. Great stuff from both of them, and from Morgan.
“A decent start for England,” says Simon McMahon. “Socially distanced, outdoor drinks on me if there’s a super over.”
Updated
Wicket!! Dhawan b Wood 4 (India 20-3)
Another one! Mark Wood, like Archer, strikes in his first over, finding top speed and rattling the leg bail as Dhawan, under pressure after using up 12 balls, goes for a big swing.
Updated
4th over: India 18-2 (Dhawan 3, Pant 14) A single for Dhawan, the first run Archer has conceded. And then Pant pulls out the reverse, and it’s a six! Ramped over the keeper. “Jimmy Anderson is smirking somewhere,” says Nasser Hussain. Pant follows up with a leg glance for four, the right way round. Game on.
3rd over: India 7-2 (Dhawan 2, Pant 4) A boundary at last, as Rishabh Pant comes in and cuts Rashid for four as if there’s nothing amiss. But England are on top: their WinViz rating, 42 per cent at the start, has shot up to 62.
Updated
WICKET!! Kohli c Jordan b Rashid 0 (India 3-2)
Kohli’s gone too! Another step away, another mow, connecting this time but going straight to Chris Jordan at mid-off. That’s a goal for Rashid and an assist for Archer, who rattled Kohli’s hand and dented his pride. Oh India. Are you England in disguise?
Updated
2nd over: India 2-1 (Dhawan 1, Kohli 0) Archer finds some bounce and raps Kohli on the glove. Kohli tries to answer back by stepping away to leg and having a mow, but he misses it. That’s a wicket maiden and a dream start for England’s gun bowler.
Updated
Wicket!! Rahul b Archer 1 (India 2-1)
Jofra Archer strikes with his second ball! It’s a wide half-volley, but quick enough for KL Rahul to be late on it and perhaps jagging back, as he drags it on. First blood to England.
Updated
1st over: India 2-0 (Dhawan 1, Rahul 1) Rashid, who hasn’t bowled since December, does well to begin with two dots to the left-handed Dhawan. Then he drags one down, but gets away with it as Dhawan’s pull goes to the man at deep square. A single to Rahul too as the openers treat Rashid with respect. What do they think this is, a Test match?
Updated
Surprise!
The first over will be bowled by ... Adil Rashid.
India XI: lashings of spin, no Rohit
India see England’s one spinner and raise them. Twice over. There’s no Ashwin, but Axar Patel is back for more, so is Washington Sundar, and neither of them is the spin king in this squad – that’s Yuzvendra Chahal. So the two captains seem to have read the pitch quite differently. And the last time that happened on this ground, England took a hammering.
The good news for England is: no sign of Rohit Sharma, the batsman of the Test series, although the pundits are confused as they thought he was one of the names Kohli reeled off just now.
India 1 Rahul, 2 Dhawan, 3 Kohli (capt), 4 Iyer, 5 Pant (wkt), 6 H Pandya, 7 Axar, 8 Sundar, 9 Kumar, 10 Thakur, 11 Chahal.
Updated
England XI: pace not spin
England bring in Mark Wood, and Jofra Archer has recovered from his bad elbow, so there’s plenty of pace. But no Moeen Ali, and not even a part-time spinner to be Rashid’s wingman. Will they regret that?
England 1 Roy, 2 Buttler (wkt), 3 Malan, 4 Bairstow, 5 Stokes, 6 Morgan (capt), 7 Sam Curran, 8 Jordan, 9 Wood, 10 Archer, 11 Rashid.
Updated
“Probably would have bowled first as well,” says Virat Kohli, candidly.
Toss: England win and bowl first
Eoin Morgan calls heads, heads it is, and he elects to chase. “The wicket looks really good. The last couple of nights, there’s been a bit of dew around.”
Updated
While we wait for the toss, Yash Gupta has a cunning plan. “If England rather than giving India a thumping in first match and then losing series 4-1, manage to lose first match by a handsome margin, I can see their chances of clinching a series. After all, they would want to avoid the pitch going Hallelujah again once they gain an upper hand in the series, and I guess THEY WILL DO WELL TO REMEMBER IT (whispering in Professor McGonagall’s voice).”
Preamble: battle of the top dogs
Afternoon everyone. Once more unto the crease, dear friends, once more unto the Ahmedabad colosseum. But this time it’s a different ballgame. The clothes are coloured, the ball is white, the timing is congenial for anyone in the West. And the scales are beautifully balanced.
This is a shoot-out between the world’s two best teams in T20 internationals. England are top of the ICC rankings, India second. Both of them have four wins in their last five T20 matches, but India have four in their last five against England. They also have home advantage (even a crowd) and our old friend Mo Mentum, who changed sides rather abruptly a month ago.
Yesterday Virat Kohli and Eoin Morgan were both busy claiming to be the underdogs. If they were in England, Kohli would be right. As it is, the most likely result, according to Oddschecker, is 3-2 to India. For all Morgan’s mastery, England will be doing well if they avoid a 4-1 defeat – which is what India need to topple them from their perch.
The big question for England’s big-hitters is this: how long will it take them to make a mockery of their Test brethren? (Some of whom are the same people.) In their catalogue of capitulation, England scraped 134, 164, 112, 81, 205 and 135. That gave them a team average of 138, which is fewer than they scored in 11 of their last 12 T20s (and the 12th, at Old Trafford, was ruined by rain). In those 12 T20s, they were never once all out. It’s quite an achievement to score more runs when you have only 20 overs to play with, as opposed to all the time in the world. They might even have won the Test series if only they’d handled the pink ball differently and gone hell for lacquer.
Will Axar Patel be back to torment them again? Probably only if it’s another turning pitch – in which case Adil Rashid should be able to give India a dose of their own medicine. His fellow leggie, Yuzvendra Chahal, will be licking his lips too. It’s all mouth-watering. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to nip out for a vaccination. See you after 1pm GMT for the toss and the teams.
Updated
