Curran keeps India in sight but rain halts England reply<\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\nSimon Burnton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\nA week after they were playing with a red ball in a heatwave, England\u2019s white-ball summer started with a washout. Rain was falling within minutes of play getting under way, though it was light enough for long enough for India to bat out their 20 overs, but conditions worsened moments after their innings ended, as these things often do, with a chaotic runout and England never got the chance to chase their target of 190.<\/p>\n
What play there was provided some encouragement for both sides, with Abhishek Sharma and the captain, Shreyas Iyer, scoring half-centuries for India, Saqib Mahmood taking three wickets on his return to the England side \u2013 the Lancashire seamer last played a T20 international in January 2025, thanks mainly to a knee injury sustained last September \u2013 and England feeling they had restricted their opponents to a below-par total of 189 for seven.<\/p>\n
When these sides last met, in the T20 World Cup semi-finals earlier this year, India\u2019s top three all scored half-centuries and the team\u2019s tally was an already-daunting 203 before the second wicket fell. Here two of those three were out before the second over was complete, Sanju Samson excellently caught by Tom Banton at backward point having scored only one and Ishan Kishan run out second ball without even managing that.<\/p>\n
But that still left Abhishek, who set about making up for those early failures. Mahmood, bowler of that successful second over, returned for another and this time he went for 21, with Abhishek pulling once for four and twice for six. A trio of Abhishek fours followed in the next over and India were back on track.<\/p>\n
By the end of the powerplay India were 61 for two and Abhishek had scored 49 of them, as Iyer made a relatively sedate start. Since being appointed captain before this tour Iyer had scored three and 10 as his side were beaten 2-0 in Ireland, and beyond ending that run of defeats he would also have been desperate to demonstrate the fluency he insisted pre-match he was feeling with the bat.<\/p>\n
And in the end he did so. Abhishek was trapped lbw by Sam Curran in the ninth over, having scored 10 boundaries including four sixes on his way to 59 off 24. Iyer took 38 balls to reach his half-century and in nine more took his score to 68 before he missed a straight one from Mahmood in the penultimate over and was trapped lbw. Shivam Dube powered his way to 42 off 21, but this would be an evening dominated not by a stream of boundaries but by a nagging veil of rain.<\/p>\n
Simon Burnton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n A week after they were playing with a red ball in a heatwave, England\u2019s white-ball summer started with a washout. Rain was falling within minutes of play getting under way, though it was light enough for long enough for India to bat out their 20 overs, but conditions worsened moments after their innings ended, as these things often do, with a chaotic runout and England never got the chance to chase their target of 190.<\/p>\n What play there was provided some encouragement for both sides, with Abhishek Sharma and the captain, Shreyas Iyer, scoring half-centuries for India, Saqib Mahmood taking three wickets on his return to the England side \u2013 the Lancashire seamer last played a T20 international in January 2025, thanks mainly to a knee injury sustained last September \u2013 and England feeling they had restricted their opponents to a below-par total of 189 for seven.<\/p>\n When these sides last met, in the T20 World Cup semi-finals earlier this year, India\u2019s top three all scored half-centuries and the team\u2019s tally was an already-daunting 203 before the second wicket fell. Here two of those three were out before the second over was complete, Sanju Samson excellently caught by Tom Banton at backward point having scored only one and Ishan Kishan run out second ball without even managing that.<\/p>\n But that still left Abhishek, who set about making up for those early failures. Mahmood, bowler of that successful second over, returned for another and this time he went for 21, with Abhishek pulling once for four and twice for six. A trio of Abhishek fours followed in the next over and India were back on track.<\/p>\n By the end of the powerplay India were 61 for two and Abhishek had scored 49 of them, as Iyer made a relatively sedate start. Since being appointed captain before this tour Iyer had scored three and 10 as his side were beaten 2-0 in Ireland, and beyond ending that run of defeats he would also have been desperate to demonstrate the fluency he insisted pre-match he was feeling with the bat.<\/p>\n And in the end he did so. Abhishek was trapped lbw by Sam Curran in the ninth over, having scored 10 boundaries including four sixes on his way to 59 off 24. Iyer took 38 balls to reach his half-century and in nine more took his score to 68 before he missed a straight one from Mahmood in the penultimate over and was trapped lbw. Shivam Dube powered his way to 42 off 21, but this would be an evening dominated not by a stream of boundaries but by a nagging veil of rain.<\/p>\n