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Rohit Sharma Lauds Hardik Pandya As India Derails England

The Rohit Sharma led-India recorded a massive 50-run victory against England in the first T20I at the Rose Bowl. The Men in Blue rode on a near perfect performance from all-rounder Hardik Pandya to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.

India got off to a blistering start after Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first. Sharma and Kishan got off to a brisk start while the middle-order batters in Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav scored 33 and 39 respectively. However, Pandya stole the show as all-the rounder managed to record his maiden half century for India in T20 Internationals. His knock of 51 runs from 33 balls helped the Man in Blue pose a solid target of 198/8.

The Indian skipper spoke with the media after the game and praised the batters, who showed a real good performance in the first T20I. Rohit Sharma said, “Great performance from ball one. All batters showed intent. Although the pitch was good, we played good shots and never got ahead of the game. You got to make use of those six overs in the powerplay. There is a certain approach we want to take in the powerplay. You got to back yourself in this game, sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t.”

After a solid outing in the first innings, it was time for the Indian bowlers to shine. Bhuvneshwar Kumar kicked things off with a tight over and got rid of Jos Buttler with a peach of a delivery. Arshdeep Singh, who made his international debut, bowled an excellent over and swung the ball, troubling English batters.

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The Men in Blue continued to take advantage of an excellent opening start to the bowling and piled up the pressure as the Three Lions failed to get going as the required run-rate increased. In the end, the Three Lions bundled out for 148, handing the visitors a massive win.

Check out Rohit Sharma’s comments on Hardik Pandya

Sharma lauded praise on Pandya for his bowling against England on Thursday. He spoke how the Indian all-rounder wants to come up with such performances on a regular basis for the national team in the future.

The 35-year-old said, “I was impressed with his (Hardik) bowling. He wants to do that a lot more in the future, bowled quick and used his variations too. Of course, his batting is there for us to see. That’s the reason we wanted to bat (ball swinging under lights).”

Pandya, who scored a 50 in the first innings returned with one of the best figures for the night. The Indian all-rounder picked up 4 wickets while giving away just 33 runs in his four overs. He was also adjudged Player of the Match for his brilliant show with the bat and ball.

Checkout this Tweet by BCCI

For his brilliant show with the bat and ball, @hardikpandya7 is adjudged Player of the Match as #TeamIndia win the first T20I by 50 runs.

Take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Scorecard – https://t.co/Xq3B0KTRD1 #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/oEavD7COnZ

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 7, 2022

The Indian captain also spoke about his decision to bat first, wanting to see his team bowl under lights while England chased. He did not shy away from speaking on India’s poor fielding during the match too. Rohit Sharma said, “Sometimes it does swing in the evenings, and we wanted to utilize that. Both the new ball bowlers used the swing and stopped their batters. We were sloppy on the field. Those catches should have been taken. Pretty sure we will field well in the coming games.

Image Credits: BCCI/ Twitter

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