India hammered England by 50 runs in the first T20I played on Thursday (July 7) at Southampton to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Rohit Sharma, back to lead India after recovering from COVID-19, won the toss and elected to bat first in the day-night fixture at the Ageas Bowl. Arshdeep Singh made his debut for India.

Rohit started well but was dismissed by Moeen Ali for a 14-ball 24, and his opening partner Ishan Kishan fell for just 8 but then in-form Deepak Hooda (33), Suryakumar Yadav (39) and Hardik Pandya (51) batted brilliantly to set up a huge total before England fought back courtesy Chris Jordan (2/23) in the death overs to restrict India to 198/8.

England's new full-time skipper Jos Buttler was dismissed for a first-ball duck, after which Jason Roy (4), Dawid Malan (21) and Liam Livingstone (0) also failed to get going in front of some exceptional bowling by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya.

WATCH - Bhuvneshwar Kumar cleans up Jos Buttler for first-ball duck

At 33/4, it looked like England would struggle to get to three figures but Moeen Ali (36), Harry Brook (28) and Chris Jordan (26*) saved some face for the hosts with a bit of help from India's fielders who spilled at least four-five simple catching opportunities.

England eventually folded for 148 in the final over with Hardik (4/33) completing a special all-round performance, as Arshdeep (2/18) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/32) also joined the party.

Hardik was named the Player-of-the-Match as he became the first Indian to score a half-century and take a 4-wicket haul in a T20I match.

The second match of the three-match series will be played on Saturday at Edgbaston in Birmingham.