AHMEDABAD: England pacer
Jofra Archer said bowling first on the two-paced Motera track gave them a bit of an advantage as they exploited the conditions early to beat India by eight wickets in the series-opening T20I here on Friday.
SCORECARDReturning from an elbow injury, Archer led England’s bowling attack with three for 23 runs as they restricted India to 124 for 7 in 20 overs after skipper
Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl first.
“I was excited to bowl first because there was a bit of dew when we trained the other night …. getting on top of the conditions gave us a little bit of an advantage. It was a very good team performance on a slow wicket,” Archer told reporters at the post-match interaction.
India lost three early wickets, including that of skipper Virat Kohli, who continued his poor form from the Test series after being dismissed for another duck.
1st T20I: Roy, Archer star as England trounce India by 8 wickets
“He is a dangerous batter. To see him back early in the innings so many times is a bonus. It’s kind of a dampener in their camp obviously being the leader of the side they expected him to score some runs. So it was some advantage to get him early,” Archer said.
The series is seen as a build up to the T20 World Cup slated in India later this year but Archer said they are not looking too far ahead.
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In Pics: Archer, Roy help England steamroll India in T20 series opener
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<p>England’s bowlers did the spadework before opener Jason Roy’s explosive 49 helped secure a comprehensive eight-wicket victory against India in the first Twenty20 International in Ahmedabad on Friday. (ANI Photo)</p>
<p>Electing to field, Eoin Morgan and his men denied India a strong start and eventually restricted them to a below-par 124-7 despite Shreyas Iyer’s breezy 67. (AP Photo)</p>
<p>Roy smashed three sixes and four boundaries in his 32-ball blitz and England wrapped up victory with 4.3 overs to spare with Dawid Malan, who made 24 not out, sealing the win with a six. (AP Photo)</p>
<p>India were reeling at 22-3 after the six powerplay overs, with Rishabh Pant contributing 16 of those runs. (Reuters Photo)</p>
<p>Among the early wickets to tumble was home captain Virat Kohli who fell for a duck trying to hit Adil Rashid over the ring on the off-side. (AFP Photo)</p>
<p>Pant made 21, hitting a six off Jofra Archer (3-23) with a cheeky reverse-scoop before Ben Stokes dismissed him. (Reuters Photo)</p>
<p>Archer removed the big-hitting Hardik Pandya to deny India a late assault and the hosts barely went above run-a-ball in their 20-overs despite Iyer’s fluent fifty. (AFP Photo)</p>
<p>Roy and Jos Buttler effectively killed off the contest with their 72-run opening partnership. Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Buttler for 28 and Washington Sundar denied Roy his fifty. (Reuters Photo)</p>
<p>Jonny Bairstow, who made 26 not out, and Malan completed the win for the tourists who were beaten 3-1 in the preceding Test series. The series assumes more importance for both teams as India will host the Twenty20 World Cup in October-November. (AP Photo)</p>
“It’s just the first game of the series. We still have four games to go. They are number two in the world for a reason,” he said.
The second T20I is slated here on Sunday.
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