England built in the momentum they found in Kolkata and trounced India in the first T20 match in Kanpur by 7 wickets.
England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and invited India to bat first on a cloudy afternoon. Indian captain Virat Kohli walked into open with KL Rahul and looked good right from the outset. However, KL Rahul perished from the other end, which brought in Suresh Raina to the crease. Both Kohli and Raina looked to stitch a partnership together, and India looked well set to launch after the powerplay. The dismissal of Kohli in the 8th over stalled proceedings and India stuttered in the middle overs as they kept losing wickets in a cluster.
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MS Dhoni tried to inject some momentum later on in the innings but England bowlers were brilliant with the ball and the hosts could only manage 148 in their 20 overs.
The England openers came out all guns blazing and put on 42 for the first wicket which set a brilliant platform for the middle order. Joe Root and Eoin Morgan sailed through the middle phase without breaking a sweat and the visitors overhauled the target with ease. Morgan unleashed few big hits and raised his half-century in 37 balls.
Here are the best reactions from in and around the cricketing world.
Post-match reactions:
Joe Root
Good day. It was a shame to miss the last One dayer. It is nice to come back here and make an impact. With the ball we kept taking wickets, put them under pressure and not let them have partnerships. Then with the bat, we knew we wanted one big partnership. Not necessarily the prettiest, especially from me. We got the job done. It is great to see them to play with such confidence. Obviously, Jason is coming on the back of a good One day series. I hope he takes the confidence forward for the rest of the series. You would like to think bowling first didn't matter. It did play a little bit better under lights. There was some variable bounce with the new ball while batting first. In the end a good toss to win. It wasn't my most fluent knock but Morgs(Morgan) took all the pressure of me.
Virat Kohli
England played better cricket than us today. We accept that. With the ball, in the field and with the bat, they were precise. Credit to their bowlers, they bowled good hard lengths with extra pace and bounce. We would have liked to execute that as well, but we were about 30-35 runs short on that wicket. Explosive start at the top. I have a lot of confidence in Chahal, he plays with me at RCB, and he's a youngster showing character. This is a format you need to enjoy and have to play at your intense best.
Eoin Morgan
Our bowlers were outstanding tonight, Moeen Ali in particular showed great resolve. We showed a lot of experience, and Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan put their hands up in very important roles. They made it very hard for the Indian batsmen on a small ground. Sam Billings and Jason Roy did outstandingly well, Sam has taken his two chances when he's had the opportunity.
Moeen Ali, Man of the match
As a bowling unit we were fantastic, Pleased to be 1-0 up with two big games to go. I took a bit of confidence from the ODIs, but just tried to bowl a length. It's a simple game when it goes well. Didn't do much different to be honest. I've been in the same situation before where I've not bowled but it's a team game.
Darren Gough
Michael Vaughan
Harsha Bhogle
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