Abhishek Sharma smashes 79 runs as India beats England by 7 wickets in first T20

KOLKATA, India (AP) — Abhishek Sharma scored a 20-ball half-century as India beat England by seven wickets Wednesday in the first T20 of their five-match series.

India's opener smacked five fours and eight sixes, scoring 79 off 34 balls, as he blasted the English bowling to all parts at the historic Eden Gardens. India scaled the target in only 12.5 overs, finishing with 133-3, in reply to the visitors’ 132 all out.

This was after India had won the toss and put England to bat. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy picked 3-23 in four overs. Seamers Arshdeep Singh (2-17) and Hardik Pandya (2-42) picked a brace each, while left-arm spinner Axar Patel also took 2-22.

Sharma topped his previous quickest half-century (24 deliveries) against South Africa last November.

Sanju Samson had provided a quick start with 26 off 20 balls, including four fours and a six, but he fell to Jofra Archer’s short bowling.

Archer (2-21) provided the only stern test for Indian batters — skipper Suryakumar Yadav was out caught for a three-ball duck and Tilak Varma was also in trouble against the short stuff.

But Varma stayed put at one end, while Sharma took the English attack to the cleaners at the other.

Sharma smacked Mark Wood, then Adil Rashid, and later Jamie Overton — striking at 200-plus through his innings.

Sharma scored at 232.35 in all as he put on 84 off 42 balls with Varma for the third wicket — Varma only contributed 15 runs in there.

He miscued a shot off Rashid near the end, as Pandya helped finish things for India.

Earlier, Arshdeep Singh provided a fiery start to put England in early trouble at 17-2. He dismissed openers Phil Salt (0) and Ben Duckett (4) in successive overs.

Skipper Jos Buttler resisted with 68 runs off 44 balls — including eight fours and two sixes. He put on 48 off 28 balls with Harry Brook, the only decent partnership from the English lineup.

Buttler was untroubled against pace or spin, with the latter especially troubling English batters. Chakravarthy wreaked havoc as Brook played on off a googly.

Liam Livingstone was unable to read his spin as well — out for a two-ball duck. Jacob Bethell fell to Pandya for seven runs, as England was down to 83-5 in 11.5 overs.

Patel ran through the lower order and despite Buttler’s fighting half-century, England finished with an under-par score at the high scoring venue.

The second T20 will be played in Chennai on Saturday.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket