Hardik Pandya played his first match for Team India this year on Wednesday (January 22) when the Men in Blue took on England in the first T20I at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

The Indian all-rounder played a key role with the ball as India thrashed England by seven wickets to take the lead in the series. When asked to bat first, England were bowled out for a modest total of 132 runs. They were at 74/4 at the end of the 10th over and looked set to post a challenging total above 150.

However, the Indian bowlers did not let England finish their innings strongly and restricted them to a modest total. Captain Jos Buttler fought a lone battle for England, scoring 68 runs off 44 balls with the help of eight fours and a couple of sixes.

Apart from Buttler, no other England player could even reach the 20-run mark. For India, Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 wickets for 23 runs in his 4 overs. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel got two wickets each.

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

With the bat, India chased down the total with utmost ease. The hosts crossed the finish line in the 14th over losing only 3 wickets. Opener Abhishek Sharma starred with the bat, smashing 79 runs off just 34 balls with the help of 5 fours and 8 sixes. Sanju Samson also started but did not last long and departed for 26 runs.

Hardik Pandya steps ahead of Jasprit Bumrah:

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

Before the start of the game, Hardik Pandya was fifth on the list with 89 wickets. He was level with Bumrah in wickets and one wicket short of Bhuvneshwar’s tally. The 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 Arshdeep. Meanwhile, Arshdeep broke Chahal’s record in the same game to become India’s all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is. The left-arm pacer now has 97 wickets, one more than Chahal.