Pandya made 51 runs and picked 4/33.
India was without a host of their first-choice players like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant as they had been rested due to their participation in the fifth Test against England. Rohit Sharma, who had missed the Test due to Covid-19, came back fit to lead the side.
He won the toss and chose to bat first. India lost Ishan Kishan early for 8 runs, while Rohit Sharma looked in control before getting out for 24 with 5 fours to his name. Then Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav took the attack to England bowlers, hitting them all over the park.
Hooda made 33 in 17 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes, while Suryakumar made 39 in 19 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes to his name.
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Then Hardik Pandya took over and smacked his maiden T20I fifty, making 51 in 33 balls with 6 fours and 1 six, while Akshar Patel made a quick 17 runs as India finished on 198/8 in 20 overs. Chris Jordan with 2/23 and Moeen Ali with 2/26 were the best bowler from the England side.
In reply, Bhuvneshwar Kumar handed Jos Buttler a golden duck on his debut as full-time white-ball England captain. Jason Roy struggled for 4 runs in 16 balls and fell to Hardik Pandya.
Pandya was the toast of the evening as he finished with figures of 4/33. For England, Moeen ali made 36, Harry Brook made 28 and Chris Jordan remained unbeaten on 26 runs, but the constant flow of wickets hampered them as they only managed 148 runs in 19.3 overs.
Arshdeep Singh impressed on his debut, taking 2/18, while Bhuvneshwar gave 10 runs in his 3 overs, and Yuzvendra Chahal picked 2/32. India won the match by 50 runs, while Hardik Pandya was given the Player of the Match award.
The cricket fraternity was all full of praises for the way Hardik Pandya and the Indian team played in this first T20I and lauded their approach with the bat.
Here are some tweets: