“PANDYA SUPREMACY!” – Twitter Goes Berserk As Hardik Pandya Stars In India’s 50-Run Win Over England In The First T20I

After losing the one-off Test match against England, India was scheduled to kick off the three-match T20I series against them on 7 July 2022. The first match of the series was scheduled to happen at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. Rohit Sharma was back for the match as he got recovered from the Covid-19 infection. On the other hand, a fresh era was on the card for England in the white-ball format as Jos Butter was appointed as the new captain for them earlier this week.

Speaking of the match, Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first. However, again Sanju Samson missed the place in the playing XI while the youngster, Arshdeep Singh was handed a debut cap. Interestingly, Umran Malik was not taken into consideration also for this match. For England, they went with a very strong batting line-up with the likes of Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, and Liam Livingstone.

While batting first, India had a great six overs of the powerplay as they scored 66 runs by losing only two wickets. Ishan Kishan had a bad day with the bat while Rohit showed some shots in his 24-run innings off 14 balls. But, all the batters chipped in with some contribution throughout the innings for India. Deepak Hooda scored 33 runs off 17 balls while Suryakumar Yadava managed 39 runs off 19 balls only. Hardik Pandya was the highest scorer with his 51 runs off 33 balls, including six fours and one six. India was looking well set for a 200+ run mark but again, at the penultimate stage of their innings, they had a mini-collapse which led them to only 198 runs by losing eight wickets. Chris Jordan was the pick of the bowlers from England as he grabbed two wickets by conceding 23 runs, at an economy of 5.8.

In reply, the English batter did not live up to the expectations as their skipper, Jos Buttler went for a golden duck. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took his wicket in his first over with a peach of a delivery. Then, India continued to take wickets at a regular interval as England was struggling at 33 runs for four wickets in 6.1 overs. Both Moeen Ali and Harry Brook were looking to build a partnership. But, they also failed as England managed only 135 runs in 18 overs by losing nine wickets. Reece Topley became the first International wicket for Arshdeep Singh as he got out in the 18th over. Finally, England got bundled out for 148 runs as Arshdeep took two wickets. Hardik Pandya was the star of the show as he picked up four wickets by conceding 33 runs in four overs, at an economy of 8.2. Thus, India won the series opener by a margin of 50 runs and took a 1-0 lead in this series.

Here is how Twitteratis have reacted to the match:

https://twitter.com/Vtrakit/status/1545145619618332672

https://twitter.com/Kh21973655Aadil/status/1545143693392326656

https://twitter.com/thebharatarmy/status/1545141876537274368

Innings Break!

After electing to bat first #TeamIndia post a total of 198/8 on the board.

Over to the bowlers now.

Scorecard – https://t.co/C5iVZMKLoK #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/59l3WTaO3I

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 7, 2022

An absolute peach of a delivery from @BhuviOfficial to get the England skipper!

Live – https://t.co/SahJZ3qOiX #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/JWBGpP3CVV

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 7, 2022

https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/1545137882846953479

https://twitter.com/mehaupwidme/status/1545147106507177985

Hardik once again proved his mettle with both batting & bowling!#HardikPandya #ENGvIND

— NEHA (@thisis_nikki19) July 7, 2022

https://twitter.com/RCBTweets/status/1545146031251210240

https://twitter.com/DelhiCapitals/status/1545144756510261249

This is so much better from the Indian batters .. Been too timid for too long in T20 cricket .. they have the talent & games to attack all attacks .. #ENGvIND

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 7, 2022

https://twitter.com/PunjabKingsIPL/status/1545145235516272640