India thrash England as white-ball era gets off to poor start under Brendon McCullum
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England's new white-ball era under Brendon McCullum began on a bum note as India drew first blood in the five-match T20 series with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in Kolkata. McCullum has urged England to be "really watchable" under his stewardship as all-format head coach but only Jos Buttler got the memo as his 68 off 44 balls was over half of England's subpar 132 all out.
Buttler held the innings together well before hitting the accelerator as he ran out of partners, holing out off Varun Chakravarthy, who earlier bowled Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone in his three for 23. The tourists needed a miracle from their coterie of quicks, and a fired-up Jofra Archer removed Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav in the same over while Mark Wood hit 95.6mph on his return from injury.
But England's rusty batting display - Buttler aside - after losing the toss was put into sharp relief by Abhishek Sharma, who belted eight sixes and five fours in a stunning 79 off 34 deliveries. Abhishek's efforts helped the world champions secure victory with 7.1 overs to spare under lights at Eden Gardens.
Arshdeep Singh took out both England openers via leading edges, with Phil Salt lasting three balls on his return to a ground where he averaged 58 at a strike-rate of 185 in the 2024 Indian Premier League. While Arshdeep exploited helpful conditions, Buttler took advantage of the wayward Hardik Pandya at the other end with six fours including four in an over to get the scoreboard ticking upwards.
