Hardik Pandya plays his first match of the year for India when the Men in Blue take on England in the first T20I at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday (January 22) .

The Indian all-rounder played a key role with the ball as India beat England by seven wickets to take the lead. series. When asked to bat first, England were bowled out for a total of 132 runs. At the end of Round 10, they were 74/4 and looked destined for a challenging total of over 150 points.

However, India’s bowlers did not allow England to finish the innings strongly and restricted them to a modest total. Captain Jos Buttler launched a lone battle for England, scoring 68 runs off 44 balls with the help of eight fours and a few sixes.

Apart from Buttler, no other English player has reached the 20-point mark. For India, Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers as he took 3 wickets in 4 deliveries and scored 23 runs. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya, Ardeep Singhand Axar Patel Each person picks up two wickets.

Also read: Watch: 4, 4, 6, 4, 4! Sanju Samson bowls out Gus Atkinson in first T20I at Eden Gardens

The Indian team easily tied the total score with this goal. The home team crossed the finish line in the 14th over for the loss of just 3 wickets. opening remarks Abhishek Sharma The star with the bat, smashed 79 runs in just 34 balls with the help of 5 fours and 8 sixes. Sanju Samson also got a start but he didn’t last long and managed only 26 runs.

Hardik Pandya ahead of Jasprit Bumrah:

Hardik Pandya’s two wickets helped Hardik Pandya overtake Jasprit Bumrah in the first T20I against England Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, join the list of Indian bowlers with the most wickets in the shortest format of the game.

Before the start of the match, Hardik Pandya was ranked fifth with 89 wickets. He is level with Bumrah on wickets and one wicket less than Bhuvneshwar’s tally. These two wickets took his tally to 91 in T20Is, putting him ahead of Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah.

He is now ranked third in the overall list, behind Yuzvendra Chahal and Ashdeep. Meanwhile, Arshdeep surpassed Chahal’s record in the same match and became India’s all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is. The left-arm pacer now has 97 wickets, one more than Chahal.