Team India started their white-ball campaign against England with an emphatic victory in the first T20I which was played in Southampton. The Indian bowlers were at their lethal best and the English batters had no answers to the immaculate bowling. ‘Swing King’ Bhuvneshwar Kumar dented the English inning from the word ‘go’ as he castled the England skipper on a peach of a delivery.
‘Swing King’ Bhuvneshwar Kumar castles Jos Buttler
After recovering from Covid, Rohit Sharma returned to the team to fulfil his responsibility as a captain. The Indian captain opted to bat first after he won the toss and his batsmen didn’t let the skipper down. While the batsmen went all guns blazing, the bowlers were not behind at all, especially ‘Swing King’ Bhuvneshwar Kumar who bowled with an amazing economy of 3.3. He also served the first blow to England in the form of the wicket of their captain.
The wicket of Jos Buttler came in the first over itself when ‘Swing King’ Bhuvneshwar Kumar went right through his defense and castled the England captain. The fifth delivery of the first over of England inning was an inswinger by Bhuvi which deceived the English captain all ends up. Buttler tried to flick the ball but the ball swung and after brushing his pads went on to hit the stumps.
What a beauty from Bhuvi!!!pic.twitter.com/tFQOVWZ552
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 7, 2022
As a result of the ‘Swing King’ Bhuvneshwar Kumar lethal delivery, Jos Buttler had to depart on a golden duck. The other bowlers supported Bhuvi really well and eventually the English team was wrapped up on just 148 runs losing the game by a whopping 50 runs. Hardik Pandya was the star of the match as his all-round performance propelled the team to an easy victory.
Apart from ‘Swing King’ Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik was the one who stole the limelight with his scintillating performance in all the departments. The all-rounder hit a half-century for his team and then went on to pick up 4 crucial England wickets. Needless to say, Hardik Pandya was awarded the Player of the Match award. The second game of the T20I series will be played on 09th July in Edgbaston.