India has been flying high with a powerful T20I victory in the five-match series opener against England by a margin of seven wickets with more than seven overs to spare as they chased down the low scores of 133 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The aggressive batting performance highlighted their dominance after a cracking show with the ball.
Winning the toss, India’s captain, Suryakumar Yadav, decided to bowl first, expecting early swing, and the left-arm pacer, Arshdeep Singh, was right on the money from the very first over, sending back both the openers, Ben Duckett and Phil Salt. Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery couldn’t be read by any of the middle-order batters of the visiting side.
The lone fighter, captain Jos Buttler, stood up for his excellent 68-run knock in 44 balls, but that wasn’t enough to match India’s carnage with the bat. The hosts’ opener, Abhishek Sharma, thumped a brilliant knock of 79 runs in 44 deliveries, shouldering on five boundaries and eight sixes at a strike rate of 232.35 to kill any chance for England.
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In 13 games of the shortest format for the blue brigade, Abhishek has already cracked 335 runs at a strike rate of more than 180. He would have expected to carry the same form in the series, but serious doubt has been created over his position for the next couple of games.
He twisted his right ankle while indulging in a warm-up fixture on January 24 and was visibly in pain. He was attended to by the physio. The 24-year-old walked a little after some attention on his ankle and even went to the MA Chidambaram B Stadium but didn’t bat.
Mohammad Shami bowled with a shortened run-up in India’s training session
Abhishek was seen to be limping in the nets, which has raised the question over his participation in the encounter on Saturday (January 25) evening. If he misses out on India’s second fixture, then the management can go with two different selections. They can add homeboy Washington Sundar, who is capable of great batting and some spin bowling options on the slow Chennai surface, or they can think of promoting Tilak Verma at the opening position with Sanju Samson to have Dhruv Jurel in the side.
Meanwhile, eyes were on the practice session of the premier pacer Mohammad Shami, who, despite being selected in the squad, didn’t play the home T20I game. The veteran has been out of action for the national side since the final of the ODI World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The Bengal pacer took part in the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 at the Holkar Stadium in Indore against Madhya Pradesh before going through the entire Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 and a few fixtures of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) 2024-25.
Shami bowled with a shortened run-up during India’s training with a knee brace as the bowling coach, Morne Morkel, kept a close eye on the Uttar Pradesh-born. After a 15-20-minute session, he decided to take a break before coming later on and bowled with full pace.
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The reports have claimed that his participation couldn’t happen in Kolkata because of the balance of the squad. The management is also not taking a chance with the veteran, who will be a key member for India in the upcoming three ODIs against England, before the Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to begin on February 19.
The Sky-led side went with Arshdeep Singh and two pace-bowling all-rounders, Hardik Pandya and Nitish Reddy, in Kolkata. Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi partnered with Varun in the spin department.