ENG VS IND - 1st T20I, India tour of England, 2018

England vs India

India won by 8 wkts

IND -163/2 (18.2)

ENG -159/8 (19.6)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Kuldeep Yadav

Batter

R
B
4s
6s
SR
20
22
0
1
90.91
101
54
10
5
187.04

Bowler

O
M
R
W
ECO
2.2
0
37
0
15.86

Now Virat Kohli can talk on and on. And Ian Ward is never short on questions. But it's England who'll have to answer them now .. it's been that kind of a pasting. But trust Cardiff to spice things up. Trust the English to bounce back. And trust us to bring everything to you. For now, this is Vineet Anantharaman signing off and on behalf of Sagar Chawla, Varun Dikshit, Nikhil Jadhav, Kumar Abhisekh Das and our scorer Naga, ta ta!!

Kuldeep Yadav | Man of the Match: It is my first tour of England and things are going really well. The conditions are prefect, felt like home. The wicket was dry and that's why I stuck to my line and length. It's important that when you bowl a wrong 'un it has to be in the perfect area. Obviously when you have two legends (Kohli and Dhoni) you need to take all the advice you can. Things are going well and hopefully I'd like to take it into the next match.

Virat Kohli (2/2): We haven't changed a lot, I usually bat at three and have dropped to four, but this allows me to control the innings in the middle-overs. It gives someone like KL the freedom to go after in the powerplay. We want our cricketers to be fearless, enjoy themselves just like what Kuldeep and he did today. We don't want that mindset to change and want to provide a cushion behind them to go after. It may not work out well every time but we need to stick to it. We dropped Jos and we know how dangerous he can be. It was a moment where I felt we needed to hold on to everything and I got the opportunity to convert. I can't be someone who's standing on the field doing nothing, I need to be pumped up when I am playing for the country and sometimes that boils over, but it's not that I always go bonkers. Luckily that passion has carried on for a while.

Virat Kohli | Winning skipper (1/2): Just looking at all the three skill-sets and how convincing we were gives me a lot of pleasure. Some of the younger guys stepping up pleases us too. We are shuffling around keeping the World Cup in mind and that's why KL went in at three and I went in at four. Umesh was superb with the new ball as well. Kuldeep is a wrist spinner, he's going to be lethal with any help from the pitch. It was his one over that turned it for us beacuse England were taking it away before that. He's very difficult to pick and his wrong 'un hasn't been easy and I hope he can keep working on it. At the toss I didn't think the wicket wouldn't change much through the course of the game, but we were lucky to keep them down to 30-40 runs short. With the start they got, I thought they would get to 200. And then the odds were stacked against England. Rahul has come a long way; especially the way he's been batting since the IPL and in that one game in Ireland - so clean and crisp. We want guys like him to step up. We don't want to be one-dimensional, we want people going up and down the order. He's got a great technique, great temperament and is very hungry and today he was a bit emotional because the last century he scored was against England in Chennai and it's been that long he's been waiting for. It was a great century and a great sign for Indian cricket.

Eoin Morgan | Losing skipper: I think thoroughly deserved for India. The best part of the game was when Jos Buttler and Jason Roy got off to a fantastic start, but they pulled it back superbly. Three wickets in the middle set us back and we never really gained momentum back from there. And then when a guy like KL Rahul gets going, he's difficult to stop. Kuldeep is a terrific bowler, we knew he'd be a big threat coming into the series. It is something we need to assess and get back in the next game. When the wicket is that good you have to take your options, it gives you the incentive to go after. We needed to take every half chance possible, but we didn't and then defending 160 was always going to be difficult. But certainly had we taken them, we'd have been in the game. Today was a game of margins for our spinners; KL chipped one just over. But India played well today and it just wasn't our day and hopefully we'll turn up for the next one. We talk about the crowds every time before an India or a Pakistan game, it has the potential to feel like an away game. The football too is going on and it is a big factor and it is something which is very real but India have a great following and we have to deal with it.

*********************

T20I 100s for India:
118 Rohit v SL, Indore, 2017
110*KL Rahul v WI, Lauderhill, 2016
106 Rohit v SA, Dharamsala, 2015
101 S Raina v SA, Gros Islet, 2010
101* KL Rahul v Eng, Manchester, 2018

Two T20I 100s on the same day - KL RAHUL part of both
27 Aug 2016: Evin Lewis (100) & KL Rahul (110*)
03 July 2018: Aaron Finch (172) & KL Rahul (101*)

Innings to 2000 T20I runs:
56 V KOHLI *
66 B McCullum
68 M Guptill
92 Shoaib Malik

Fastest to 1000 T20I runs - Kohli (27 innings)
Fastest to 2000 T20I runs - Kohli (56 innings)

*********************

But make no mistake, he's piggybacked on the web Kuldeep Yadav spun - ensuring the English were kept down to 160 when 200 looked a possibility at one stage. Now shared MOMs are rare, and T20Is haven't seen any so far. Can tonight break the trend? Stay on.

Harsha Bhogle: As comprehensive a win as was possible against a good England team. Two young men were at the heart of the win which augurs well for Indian cricket.

Hundred & five-fer in the same T20I for a side:
Morne van Vyk (114*) & David Wiese (5/23) v WI, Durban, 2015
KL Rahul (101*) & Kuldeep Yadav (5/24) v Eng, Manchester, 2018

20:52 local: Seven successive T20I wins and India embark on all their United Kingdom build-up with a damning win. To hell with who's batting where, Rahul does well with his promotion. It's not everyday that you outclass, outpace, outshine Rohit, but such was KL's day. He's carrying pristine form in, and he celebrates his first match on these shores with a stunner. A near-chanceless stunner. It's also not everyday that you score over 60% of your side's runs in a chase against one of the best sides in the world. So much so that it makes Buttler's innings seem like ages ago.

18.2

6

Moeen Ali to Kohli, SIX, seals in style. Thumppp. Moeen's been carted around enough, and Kohli joins in with a bottom-handed whip as he runs down the pitch. And lofts it over long-on. Well over

18.1

Moeen Ali to Rahul, 1 run, eased down the ground. Generous enough chap, he'll let Kohli finish

Moeen Ali [2.0-0-30-0] is back into the attack

END OF OVER 18

10 Runs

IND: 156 - 2

1 4 1 2 1 1

Lokesh Rahul

100 (53)

Virat Kohli

14 (21)

Willey

4-0-30-1

17.6

Willey to Rahul, 1 run, oh yes. And KL will do a dab to the dressing room. He joins Rohit Sharma on that elusive list - becoming the only two Indians with two T20I centuries. And unless there's an apocalypse, this should end up in a win for him. Does it with a flat-batted heave into deep square leg, and he doesn't even bother with the second. He'd rather celebrate

17.5

Willey to Kohli, 1 run, full, wide, angling further. Dug out, under a diving point. Doesn't matter - it's Rahul with his strike back - to become the second Indian with two T20I centuries

17.4

Willey to Kohli, 2 runs, rubbery-wrist-whip into the widely vacant cow corner. And he'll make KL wait longer

17.3

Willey to Rahul, 1 run, tickled away off the hips. 99

17.2

4

Willey to Rahul, FOUR, airy flick. And India have their first boundary in six overs. An absolute filthy float up down leg, Rahul swipes, almost sweeps .. and there's nothing Moeen can do out there

17.1

Willey to Kohli, 1 run, very tennis-like forehand. Down to long-on