Watch cricket video highlights of England tour of India 2025. First Twenty/20 between India and England. Venue of the match will be Eden Gardens.
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Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to give his bowlers the first try on a “sticky” Kolkata wicket, where dew is predicted to play a significant role in the second innings. As a result, India will chase in the opening Twenty20 International match against England. On Tuesday, Jos Buttler, who would have also decided to bowl first, revealed England’s fast-paced lineup. However, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, and Ravi Bishnoi—the new vice-captain—are three spinners in Suryakumar’s XI.
With his left-arm orthodox, Abhishek Sharma also provides a slow-bowling alternative. After recuperating from ankle surgery and a knee injury that has prevented him from playing for his country since 2023’s loss to Australia in the ODI World Cup final, Mohammed Shami will have to wait to play again. The targeted pace options are all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy, along with Arshdeep Singh.
With the hosts playing their first white ball encounter as England’s all-encompassing head coach, the first of five Twenty20 Internationals has a somewhat transitional vibe. Since winning the T20 World Cup last year, which resulted in a few high-profile retirements, India has advanced farther in theirs, defeating South Africa, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Gautam Gambhir will be hoping for some familiar comforts on his maiden visit to Eden Gardens as national head coach, as the aftermath from a poor Test tour of Australia is still being felt.
Having won the last four series, both at home and away, India has not lost a bilateral T20I series at home in the previous six years, which goes hand in hand with their overall supremacy against England in this format. Their most recent encounter took place in the World Cup semifinals last year, where India easily won by 68 runs en route to winning the championship. Since the devastating World T20 final in 2016, where Carlos Brathwaite hit four straight sixes off Ben Stokes to lead the West Indies to a thrilling victory.
This is England’s first Twenty20 International in Kolkata. Abhishek Sharma’s 79 off just 34 deliveries helped India ruthlessly defeat England in the opening Twenty20 International at Eden Gardens, consuming a pitiful goal of 133 with 43 balls remaining. The hosts’ successful all-around effort was finished off by Abhishek’s third fifty-plus score in the format. The visitors were dismissed for 132 after Arshdeep Singh’s 2 for 17 up top and Varun Chakravarthy’s 3 for 23 in the middle destroyed their hopes of giving Brendon McCullum’s debut game as manager the offensive vigour he so desperately wants.
However, things might have gone worse for Jos Buttler, who scored 68, his 26th T20I fifty. The 34-year-old had lost a vital toss against Suryakumar Yadav to start the evening. Moisture permeated the air throughout the 7 p.m. start in Kolkata, and dew played a role as early as the first innings. Only one of the two captains was given the opportunity to bowl. Arshdeep took full advantage of the early circumstances, dismissing openers Ben Duckett and Phil Salt in his first 11 deliveries.
With those dismissals, the left-arm seamer surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal as India’s most wicket-taker in T20Is, reaching 97. Harry Brook was the only batter to reach double digits before Jofra Archer came in with 12 from No. 9, and Buttler had contributed 68 of the 109 on the board by the time he left in the 17th over. Varun’s googlies stopped the reconstruction, and Brook’s 17 was part of a 48-run stand with skipper and vice-captain Buttler. To reduce that to rubble, the 33-year-old bowled Liam Livingstone and Brook in three deliveries.
Buttler, holing out to deep square leg, was his third. The chase’s meager danger was limited until the fifth over, when Archer got rid of both of them. After doing the early running, Sanju Samson and Surayakumar were dismissed for a duck in four deliveries. With 2 for 21, Archer was easily the best bowler for England after opening the innings and bowling his next four overs in a row. That just placed the burden on Abhishek, who was defeated on 29 off 16 by Adil Rashid. Four balls later, the left-hander would reach his half-century.
India had almost taken a 1-0 lead in this five-match series, but Rashid would ultimately get his man. It was confirmed by a top-edged four from Tilak Varma off a bouncer from Mark Wood off the last delivery of the 13th over. The lone Indian full-time fast nipped England up top before a three-pronged spin attack suffocated them down the middle. Arshdeep has been a new-ball banker for India’s shortest format since making his debut in 2022. Devastatingly constant and consistently damaging.
It seemed appropriate that he solidified his reputation as one of the top seamers in the game with an initial three-over performance of 2 for 10 on the evening he became India’s top T20I wicket-taker. Salt, who was limited to skying a leading edge, moved away and up off a substantial length. This was followed by a nip in the other direction, which left the left-handed Duckett for a similar fate. He defeated Buttler and Brook without receiving any compensation because of the astounding 12 dots in the first 18 deliveries.
Their feelers outside off stump may have produced edges on a different day, giving Arshdeep even greater happiness. But after making room for his spinners, he appeared content with his effort rather than lamenting losing out on those extra ticks in the wicket column. Falling to India’s spinners in any capacity, especially when they are working domestically, is not a source of embarrassment. However, there was a lingering sense of familiarity surrounding England’s defeat at Eden Gardens, which is unrelated to the events of that 2016 final.
Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja took 6 for 58 from 11 overs in the 2024 semi-final in Guyana, crushing England eight years after that sorrow. This time, just Axar was left, but the outcomes were much the same: 12 overs of web-spinning with five wickets taken for a mere 67. It’s simple to argue that players like Brook, Livingstone, and Jacob Bethell ought to have learned from Buttler, especially his knack for picking length. However, that is difficult to duplicate given Buttler’s extensive IPL experience and exceptional skill.
The bowlers deserve praise, especially Varun. The spinner seemed unfazed by the grass on the ground. At a pitch where he has taken 24 wickets at 22.20 from 16 outings, his IPL skills were put on display. Despite beating the insides of Brook’s and Livingstone’s bats, he was not concerned with spinning the ball over the edge and instead used a holding pattern of deliveries that were just short of a length to keep the ball out of striking arcs. “I can’t defeat batters with bowling sidespin.
As he accepted a well-earned Player-of-the-Match trophy, Varun stated, “The only way I can beat batsmen with bounce.” The fact that he gave his performance a meek “seven out of ten” is maybe the most insulting to England. It didn’t matter that Bethell dropped Abhishek, who was coming in from deep midwicket and following the ball all the way before it spilled through his hands as he rushed forward. Abhishek was caught at a distance after a ball. India had confirmed their victory after one over.
However, the difference between the two fielding attempts on Wednesday night was brought to light by watching one of England’s top fielders falter in that situation. Even while it would have been an incredible take, it wouldn’t have been the night’s high point. That distinction went to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who executed a more formidable version of Bethell’s attempt by running in faster and catching the ball so close to the ground that the referees requested a second look.
When the television umpire eventually gave it the all-clear, Buttler had already returned to the dugout after that brilliant play stopped his charge. Reddy had plenty of airplay even though he didn’t play with bat or ball. He removed Jamie Overton with an easier catch and darted around the deep on a one-man mission to limit England’s boundary total. Rinku Singh set the tone by taking a leading edge off Duckett, which forced him to run back from cover with one eye over his shoulder. The other fighters in the arena followed that effort.
Abhishek’s decrease was obviously not even as bad as Bethell’s. Rashid had a far easier caught-and-bowled opportunity. When the left-hander blasted three boundaries off the rest of his over, the last two of which were sixes over midwicket and then straight down the ground, the legspinner was rightfully punished. As a tribute to the nurturing power of taking your catches, England’s heads lowered.
