Amid the discussions as to whether England or India is the better limited overs side, I thought it is an opportunity to take a light-hearted approach to the 1st T20I, and highlight some of the incredible performances on display.
For England, it must have felt like going on a holiday (destination: Australia series) and then returning to a job you hate. On a holiday, you typically forget about any major responsibilities. In this case, the responsibility is spin bowling, and India gave the English a bit of a wake up call.
And woah, looking at the way Michael Vaughan was going on about things over the last few weeks, you’d think England won the World Cup without defeat.
Next minute….
Poor Vaughany was too caught up in beating a weakened Australia side that he forgot that India are a damn excellent limited overs side. It’s as if he saw India play for the first time. Hilarious, in my view…
Anyway, here are my player ratings for India’s awesome win over England in the tour opener.
England
Jason Roy: Involved in a good opening stand but would have loved to kick on. 7
Jos Buttler: One of the finest limited overs players in the world. England not only realised India are a good limited overs side, but also that the IPL can actually help you play white ball cricket. Buttler is an example of this, scoring 69 amid the Kuldeep carnage. 9
Alex Hales: Test match audition by Alex, but not the right occasion to do it. 1
Eoin Morgan: Realises he has a much tougher test on his hands now. 2
Jonny Bairstow: Golden duck. Done by the higher quality spin bowling. Warning shot after fruitful series v Australia. 1
Joe Root: Golden after Jonny Bairstow’s golden. 1
Moeen Ali: 6 off 8 balls and 2.2 overs for 37. I bet when KL Rahul reverse swept him for four first ball, he was like “damn, honeymoon over”. 1
Adil Rashid: Bowled with pretty good control for the most part. 1/25 off four is a very good effort with KL Rahul going berserk. 7.5
David Willey: One of England’s better performers. Took England to a somewhat respectable score and took an early wicket. Gave his team hope. 8
Chris Jordan: Pretty economical with the ball. Decent compared to some of his teammates. 6
Liam Plunkett: KL Rahul took a liking to him in one particular over. Tough outing. 2
India:
Shikhar Dhawan: Willey was swinging it and Dhawan didn’t like it! Poor stroke from him. 2
Rohit Sharma: Steady without being spectacular. Played a supporting role to the amazing KL Rahul. 7
KL Rahul: Class. All class. Amazing strokeplay. England didn’t have an answer. There wasn’t an area of the field he didn’t exploit. What a performance. 10
Virat Kohli: Chilled out watching his bowlers dominate, took two catches and then chilled out again at the end hitting the winning runs. 7
Suresh Raina: Took a catch but wasn’t needed with bat or ball, such was India’s dominance. 5
MS Dhoni: Super cool behind the stumps. It was incredible how he didn’t panic when he nearly fumbled the stumping off Joe Root. Two stumpings in a row. Look forward to seeing him bat later in the series. 7
Hardik Pandya: Started very economically with the ball and took the wicket of the potentially dangerous Moeen towards the end. 6
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: No where near his best day. With Bumrah out, it was amazing that India won so easily with Bhvi having an off day. 2
Umesh Yadav: When something good comes from an RCB IPL campaign, you must take advantage of it. Umesh is a prime example of this. Superb bowling display. 8
Yuzvendra Chahal: Expensive start but bounced back pretty well. He is still one for England to watch out for. 5
Kuldeep Yadav: Compared to the Australia series, England were in KulDEEP trouble. Superb display of wristspin. He is indeed a mystery spinner…. It is a mystery to see how England try play him in the next game. World class bowler. 10
——
So, hope you enjoyed this edition of player ratings, and hope it gets you even more excited for the 2nd T20I. I know I am.
Thanks for reading.
