Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was completely 'at home', starring with figures of 3/23 as India delivered an exceptional bowling display, skittling out England for 132 in the first T20I at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
The biggest surprise of the evening came at the toss when the Gautam Gambhir-led think tank opted to leave out a seemingly fit-again Mohammed Shami, opting for a spin-heavy attack. But the coach was vindicated because perfect execution of plans by his spin troika who snared 5 for 67 in 12 overs bowled between them.
Despite the dewy conditions, India went in with three spinners: Ravi Bishnoi (0/23 in 4 overs), Axar Patel (2/22 in 4 overs), and Chakravarthy -- backing record-breaker Arshdeep Singh's fiery opening spell.
The left-arm quick set the tone by dismissing both openers, Phil Salt (0) and Ben Duckett (4), in successive overs en route to his 2/17 from four overs.
His first spell of 3-0-10-2 also saw him surpass Yuzvendra Chahal's tally to become India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 97 scalps.
At a venue where the average first-innings T20I score is 198, England’s 132 seems woefully inadequate.
Stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav managed his bowlers astutely, ensuring timely changes and capitalising on their momentum after winning the toss.
The pitch offered some grip, and the dew had minimal impact.
England's struggles were compounded as they failed to build partnerships, with only skipper Jos Buttler holding the innings together.
Jos Buttler (68 from 44 balls) played a composed knock, reaching his fifty off 34 balls, mixing power and precision to keep England afloat amidst the wreckage.
Chakravarthy turned the game decisively in India’s favour post-powerplay finding his mojo back at his IPL home venue.
Returning to his IPL home ground, the Kolkata Knight Riders spinner dismissed Harry Brook (17) and Liam Livingstone (0) in quick succession before eventually sending Buttler back, breaking England’s resistance.
Ravi Bishnoi complemented the attack beautifully with a tight spell of 0/22 from his four overs, while Axar Patel recovered from a shaky start to finish with 2/22, including a maiden.
The spinners dominated the middle overs, conceding just 25 runs and picking up two crucial wickets between overs 10 and 15. The English batters weren't able to pick the wrist spinners from their hands.
England’s misery was compounded by some reckless shot selection.
Youngster Jacob Bethell (7) escaped a close stumping chance off Chakravarthy but couldn’t capitalise, mistiming a pull to deep midwicket to become Hardik Pandya’s first victim.
Pandya was initially expensive smashed for 18 runs where Buttler smashed him for four boundaries but he was cleverly rotated by Suryakumar as he bowled tidily at death and finished with 2/42.
England were eventually bowled out in the final delivery when Mark Wood was run out for 1.
Despite the early counterattack from Brook and Buttler, England never truly recovered from Chakravarthy’s twin strikes.
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