India beat England in the first T20 International at Manchester by 8 wickets. Kuldeep Yadav displayed a mesmerising performance by taking a brilliant five wicket haul. Jos Butler scored an impressive 69 runs but ended up on the losing side. In reply, KL Rahul played a sublime innings to chase down the target of 160 runs in just 18.2 overs. He scored a fluent 101 runs in just 54 balls giving India first victory of the long England tour.
Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to field. Jason Roy and Jos Butler blasted Indian bowlers around the park before Umesh Yadav got rid of Jason Roy in the fifth over. On 50 for one after five overs England looked well set to cross the 200 mark with a long batting line up to come. But Indian bowlers had other plans. They gave away just 27 runs in the next five overs putting England under immense pressure. Kuldeep Yadav came into the attack and walked through the England batting line up, humiliating them by picking up five crucial wickets in his quota of four overs. Jos Buttler fought the lone battle by scoring a quick fire half century. The hosts ended up on a below par score of 159 runs on the board.
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In reply, India had a shaky start with Shikhar Dhawan biting the dust in the first over itself. In walked the in form KL Rahul whose place in the team was a point of debate before the tour begun. He commenced with a beautiful six over covers and that opened the flood gates. He scored an impeccable hundred with some classy and clean cricketing shots. Rohit Sharma played a mature innings even though he was struggling with his timing. He kept giving strike to KL Rahul and the latter kept smashing bowlers with ease.
India lead the three match T20 series 1-0. The second match will be played on 6th July at Cardiff.
Brief scores – England 159/8 (Jos Butler 69 off 46, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-24-5) lost to India 163/2 (KL Rahul 101* off 54, Adil Rashid 4-0-25-1) by 8 wickets.