The Jos Buttler white ball era began with a whimper as India utterly outclassed England's T20 kings with a ruthless display.
With his friend and former skipper Eoin Morgan about as close to the action as it was possible to be in the Sky Cricket pod on the boundary, all eyes were on the new man in charge. But rather than perform like the rockstar he so often is, the new captain was cleaned up for a golden duck by the brilliant Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his side fell well short of their target to be thrashed by 50 runs.
With India setting an imposing 199 for England to chase and their new ball bowlers in irresistible form, the task was just too much as the side were bowled out for 148 in 19.3 overs. Hopes of some Buttler fireworks to kick start his reign were dashed when Kumar’s inswinger cannoned into the stumps via the pads to get India going before all rounder Hardik Pandya blew the rest of the top order away, on a great night for him where his 4-23 and 51 with the bat shone brightest.
“We were outplayed by India,” admitted Buttler. “Their new ball spell was fantastic and we probably needed to put a couple of shots into the stands to stop it swinging. Kumar is an excellent bowler and that was an excellent delivery.
“He gets swing even when others don’t, but they all bowled very well. It is easy for us to come back from this now, we still go to Edgbaston full of confidence. Nothing much changes for us just because we lost.”
Amazingly, with England’s Test cricketers playing largely like T20 cricketers lately, Jason Roy paid his own tribute to the traditional red ball format with four from 16 balls. A reverse Bazball if you will. At 33-4 and with a required run rate heading north of 13 per over, it was down to Harry Brook and Moeen Ali to try and conjure up some middle order magic.
After both being dropped they managed to add 61 before Brook was smartly caught in the deep for 28, while Moeen followed soon after for 36. It might have been considered a minor surprise when Rohit Sharma chose to bat after winning the toss, but they know how to put a score on the board and defend it with the captain setting the tone.
Much like a Ben Stokes Test innings, Rohit’s cameo of 24 from 14 balls didn’t last particularly long, but it was long enough for his players to get the message that it was a terrific batting surface and they had to cash in with aggressive strokeplay against the England bowlers.
Sam Curran, Reece Topley and Tymal Mills were all expensive before the trend continued with leg spinner Matt Parkinson. With Adil Rashid currently on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, this series is a perfect chance for Parkinson to show off his skills, but he was punished for bowling too full and too wide.
The only bowler that put on any kind of brakes was Chris Jordan who grabbed 2-23 and again overtook Rashid as the most successful England T20 bowler with 82 scalps.
