India’s first T20I against England at the Riverside Stadium at Chester-le-Street was called off without a bowling in the second innings due to incessant rains that made the outfield unplayable.After winning the toss, India elected to bat first and recovered from a disastrous start to post a competitive score of 189/7 in the allotted 20 overs, thanks to Abhishek Sharma’s explosive half-century and Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy knock. However, the weather was the ultimate deciding factor, with persistent rain preventing England from starting their chase of 190.India’s innings got off to a shaky start with Saqib Mahmood being dismissed early, replacing Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan being dismissed at a slip, as the visitors struggled to finish at 6/2.Abhishek Sharma launched a thrilling fightback as India came under pressure. The left-hander demolished England’s seamers with a fearless batting performance, scoring 50 runs in just 20 deliveries. In the process, he also became the fastest batsman from a regular member nation to hit 100 sixes in T20 internationals.
Abhishek and Shreyas partnership
Abhishek and Iyer scored 82 runs for the third wicket to regain control of the innings. The opener ended up falling for 59 off 24 balls after Sam Curran trapped him, an innings filled with six fours and four sixes.After Abhishek’s dismissal, skipper Shreyas Iyer took over the responsibility of the midfield game. The right-hander combined a well-choreographed attack with sound batting rotation to score 68 runs off 47 deliveries, including six boundaries and six boundaries. During his tournament, Iyer also crossed the milestone of 5,000 international runs, becoming the latest Indian batsman to achieve the feat.Although Saqib Mahmood came back to bowl Iyer and finish with impressive figures of 3/33, India found valuable late runs through Shivam Dube. The all-rounder remained unbeaten on 42 off just 21 balls, hitting three sixes and two fours to push the visitors to 189/7.
The rain is bad
England never had a chance to begin to respond. Shortly after the break, heavy rain continued throughout the night, preventing the grounds crew from getting the playing field ready before the deadline. As a result, the match was officially abandoned without England bowling a single ball in each innings, forcing both teams to go without a result.Brief score: India are 189/7 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 68, Abhishek Sharma 59, Shivam Dube 42*; Saqib Mahmood 3/33).
