Uzair Rizvi, BeyondHeadlines
Stuart Broad tasted his first win as England’s T-20 captain, as the hosts beat India by six wickets.
Nothing seems to be going India’s way in International Cricket. After losing the test series 4-0, Indian’s came out in the Colored kits to take on the Twety20 Champions England in Manchester with some new faces.
Winning the toss and deciding to bat first Parthiv Patel (10) and Rahane made a good start before Patel holed out at Mid-on.T-20 debutant Rahul Dravid(31) made an edgy start but was back in rhythm with mystique shots and added a 60 runs stand with Rahane(61) who was looking beautiful with his drives, cuts and the pulls over mid-wicket region.
India lost a bit in the way losing quick wickets in form of Kohli(4) and Sharma(1) but Raina(33) steadied the ship and took them par 150 while the rest Indian batsmen faltered and miscued their shots , with the lower order and tail contributing to almost nil.
From 158/6 India bundled up at 165.
James Derbach bagged up four wickets and was very impressive with his change in variations, especially with his slower ones.
Set a target of 166 , India got off to a perfect start when Praveen Kumar removed debutant Hales for duck in the very first over.
Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen negotiated the early swing and Pietersen took on the loose delieveries.They added 58 runs before Patel dismissed Kieswetter(18) and Kohli dismissed Pietersen(33).
At 61/3 in 7 overs.Morgan and Bopara then added a valuable 73 runs for the fourth wicket.
Left-hander Morgan was instrumental as the flamboyant Irish played handsome strokes for his quick 49 runs striking seven fours and a six. He fell and the hosts needed 35 from 29 balls.
Samit Patel(25*) and Bopara(31*) kept the required rate under 7 runs and over.Munaf Patel bowled a magnificent second last over conceding only 3 runs leaving England to score 10 runs off the last over.
Vinay Kumar gave 13 runs in his first three deliveries including a wide, as Samit Patel struck three boundaries and a lofted drive over covers for four to score the winning runs for England.
Munaf Patel was the pick of the bowlers for India with the figures of 2/27 in his four overs.
Dernbach was declared Man-Of-The-Match for his career best 4/22 in 3.3 overs.
This win will add more pressure on India after winning their practice games they suffered again.
England are the current T-20 Champions and Test Champions, an ODI series win will see this side topple India to take the 1st place in ODI also.
The first ODI is on 3rd September in Chester-le-Street,Durham.It is a day match.
