'Powerful, dominant': Twitter reacts as India crush England in 1st T20I

A stellar all-round performance by Hardik Pandya saw India crush England by 50 runs to take a lead in the 3-match T20I series. The all-rounder walked in at number 5, slammed a half century and then picked up four wickets to break the back of England’s chase.

Rohit Sharma, back to lead the side, won the toss and elected to bat first. He looked in fine touch as he smashed 5 boundaries in the first 3 overs. India got off the blocks pretty quickly and despite losing both the openers, they raced ahead to 66 in the first 6 overs.

Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav kept playing their strokes and never allowed the innings to stagnate. The strokes continued unabated as India raced ahead to 105/3 at the end of 10 overs. Hardik looked to be in the zone as soon as he walked in and along with Axar Patel and Dinesh Karthik, he kept pushing India ahead.

Despite losing some wickets and slowing down just a touch in the final few overs, India posted a very competitive 198 runs at the end of their 20 overs. On a belter of a batting surface, this could have been a par score, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar found swing in his first over and knocked over Jos Buttler to give India the perfect start.

Arshdeep Singh, on his debut, was excellent as well as he too found considerable swing as the England top order struggled to find any momentum. Hardik Pandya, fresh after his heroics with the bat, stepped up and picked up 4 wickets to derail England’s chase.

Barring some late hitting by Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan, none of other England batters managed to hit their stride as Arshdeep ended a perfect day with a couple of wickets at the death as India completed a comprehensive win.

Here is how Twitter reacted to this win: