India v England - England in India T20I Series - 1st T20I - Match Recap
India’s Yuvraj Singh thwarted England’s plans to go one-up in the two-match T20 series as the flamboyant showed just why he is indispensable in shorter formats of the game by hammering a match-winning knock of 38 runs, leading his side to victory in 17.5 overs, successfully chasing 158 runs, at the Subrata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Symonds-c44611 Sahara Stadium, Pune, on Thursday, 20 December.
After being asked to bat first, England openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Lumb-c1981 and AD Hales muscled a stand of 21 runs before the former was trapped right in front of stumps by Ashwin. The batsman walked off the field after scoring only a run.
However, before India could gloat any further, the second-wicket partnership between Hales and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LJ-Wright-c1841 left the hosts crippled as they took the score to 89, hammering 68 runs in seven overs.
This was the partnership that could have humiliated the Indians ,however, Yuvraj Singh trashed the party by dismissing Wright, who faltered after smashing 34 runs off just 21 deliveries.
Sing then nabbed the prized wicket of Hales, who faltered after scoring 56 runs off 35 deliveries. These two wickets were crucial as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 were sitting with 99 runs on the board.
Singh was outstanding as he struck for the third time by dismissing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/EJG-Morgan-c1419 for five.
With four wickets down and only 100 runs on the board, India had put England on the back foot.
SR http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jonathan-Clare-c1729 Buttler unbeaten 33 helped England post 157 runs on the board as they avoided a complete meltdown.
India then made a strong start to their run chase with openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447 and AM Rahane posting 42 runs together before this partnership met its end on the wicket of Gambhir, who was dismissed by Bresnan after scoring 16 runs.
England then made another quick breakthrough by nabbing their second wicket with only 44 runs on the board, as Bresnan sent AM Rahane back after the batsman had scored 19 runs.
This was the time when England needed to maintain the pressure on their opposition, however, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364 was then the third batsman to lose his wicket as India looked well set to finish the game on a positive note.
With 110, Kohli was then removed by Meaker after playing a 21-run knock, leaving http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 in the middle to face the English.
The two batsmen led their side towards 148, before Raina was run out after hammering an important knock of 26 runs.
Meanwhile skipper Dhoni remained unbeaten on 24 as his side grabbed a well tamed victory.
Sing, who was named as the player of the match said, “When it comes to T20 I like to express myself. I try to hit everything straight and see how it goes. I tried to bowl a bit slow, I thought that might help, tried not to give any loose balls. Chasing was a good idea because of the dew and the ball comes on later in the day.”
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