Hardik Pandya guides India to comfortable victory over England

India dominated from the outset against the hosts, who lost new captain Jos Buttler to his first ball and were never in the run-chase after a world-class new-ball spell from Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Ageas Bowl: India 198-8, England 148 - India win by 50 runs

Scorecard

A terrific all-round performance from India gave them a convincing victory against England in the first T20I of a three-match series.

Hardik Pandya made his maiden fifty in the format, before taking three wickets in seven balls to puncture the home side's response. Jos Buttler, in his first T20I as England's full-time captain, fell first ball to a beauty from the impressive Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

India's dominance began at the outset, when Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat at the Ageas Bowl, with the tourists flying out of the blocks.

Rohit's fast start was ended in just the third over when he edged Moeen Ali behind after taking him for consecutive boundaries on the sweep. But he had made his team's intentions clear, with Deepak Hooda ensuring India lost no momentum; he swung Moeen away for successive sixes over the legside.

Amid the carnage of the powerplay, England kept a lid on Ishan Kishan, who was so destructive on his T20I debut against the same opposition last year. He fell for just eight, top-edging a sweep to Matt Parkinson at short fine leg, who took an awkward catch as he ran back.

Hooda kept going, however, clipping Reece Topley over midwicket, carving beyond backward point and slicing over short third man in the same over; the 27-year-old has had to wait a long time for his opportunity in international cricket and wasn't about to let England settle. But just as he seemed primed for a big score, he fell to a slower delivery from Chris Jordan, the pick of England's bowlers by a distance.

^{Jos Buttler fell first ball for England (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

At the other end, Suryakumar Yadav was well into his work, hitting his first ball for four and his third over fine leg for six, via the extra pace of Tymal Mills – a shot he would reprise in Mills' second over and against Jordan when he erred too straight. He followed that with identical boundaries to greet Parkinson, using his wrists to squirt the leg-spinner square of cover to the ropes.

Parkinson struggled to settle from the Hotel End, and his second over was taken for another pair of fours, this time by Pandya, who nailed him over his head and then slammed through wide extra cover, with the setting sun obstructing the view of Jason Roy at long-off.

Soon afterwards, Jordan ended Yadav's 19-ball cameo, gloving behind to Jos Buttler, whose first review as England's white-ball skipper was a successful gamble that stemmed the flow of a partnership that contributed 37 runs in just three overs. It was also a wicket that made Jordan England's all-time leading wicket-taker in this format, moving one ahead of Adil Rashid, who is missing this series to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

In his absence, Liam Livingstone, another of England's supplementary spin options, saw his solitary over taken for 15. And when Sam Curran returned in an attempt to regain some control, he was expertly guided behind point for another four by Pandya, who received a life when his pad flap deflected a stumping chance off Parkinson – who bowled better when he returned from the Pavilion End – away from Buttler.

Axar Patel then swung Parkinson away for four but could only drag the next ball into the hands of Roy at long-off. The following delivery, though, was slapped for six more by Pandya, who went to his maiden T20I fifty before scything to deep cover.

From there, England fought back to keep the tourists under 200; Jordan's figures – 2 for 23 from four overs – were a fine effort in the context of the overall story.

^{Bhuvneshwar Kumar was sensational for India with the new ball (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)}

In reply, Buttler's reign got off to the worst possible start, castled by a peach from Kumar, who set up the over perfectly by beginning with four outswingers at Roy, before unleashing the opposite when Buttler came onto strike, hooping past his inside edge and cannoning into the stumps via pad.

According to CricViz, no pair of opening bowlers – Arshdeep Singh was the other – had ever found more swing at the start of a T20I innings. Dawid Malan got to grips with it, hitting four fours in 14 balls before chopping on to Pandya. Liam Livingstone was next to go; he miscued an attempted ramp to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps, while wearing a helmet-camera that would only catch footage of three balls.

In a quite remarkable procession, Roy was next to go: he made just four in 16 balls, batting through the powerplay but hardly laying bat on ball, before scything a wild swing to third man to give Pandya his third.

From there, a partnership began to flourish between Moeen and Harry Brook, the Yorkshire batter who made his T20I debut in the Caribbean. Both men were given a life – Moeen at extra cover by Yadav, Brook by Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps – but they were unable to keep up with a required run rate that, following a woeful start, was above 12 runs per over.

That stand was worth 61 runs when Brook holed out to deep midwicket, giving Yuzvendra Chahal his first wicket of the evening. He would add Moeen in the same over, stumped by Karthik at the second attempt.

That signalled the end of England's challenge, even if India were far from clinical, with a longer tail than usual to accommodate an extra bowler. Curran's attempted scoop was taken behind, while Harshal Patel caught Mills off his own bowling as England fell well short.