England defeated India by eight wickets in the first Twenty20 International to lead the five-match series 1-0 in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Opener Jason Roy and fast bowler Jofra Archer played the lead roles as the visiting team thrashed the home side while chasing a modest total of 125 in the opening T20I.
Roy scored 49 and put on a 72-run blazing opening stand with Jos Buttler to help England chase the target with 27 balls to spare.
Buttler fell lbw to leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for 28 and Roy, who hit four fours and three sixes, fell one short of a half century when Washington Sundar trapped him lbw.
“I’ll take 49 and a comfortable victory for the team any day,” said Roy, who did not take part in the Test series in which England were hammered 3-1.
Dawid Malan finished on 24, including the six that won the game, and Jonny Bairstow, scored 26 off 17 balls.
The pair put on an unbroken stand of 41 to steer England to victory after Archer took 3-23 in a fiery opening attack on the Indian batters.
Captain Eoin Morgan won the toss, fielded first and India slipped to 48-4 with skipper Virat Kohli out for nought off leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
Kohli blamed a “below par batting performance” by his side.
“There was a lack of execution of some of the shots. We have to come back with much more intent and clarity of plan. The wicket did not allow you to play the kind of shots you wanted to,” he added.
Archer claimed KL Rahul who hit an inside edge on to the stumps. Fellow quick Mark Wood rattled Shikhar Dhawan’s stumps.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant reverse hit Archer for a six behind the stumps, but he fell to Ben Stokes for 21.
Shreyas Iyer scored his third T20 fifty and put on 54 for the fifth wicket with Hardik Pandya, who smashed 19, to boost the Indian total.
But Archer broke the partnership with Pandya’s wicket and then took Shardul Thakur with his next ball.
