Kolkata, Jan 22: Abhishek Sharma was at his destructive best during his match-winning knock after splendid spells from Varun Chakravarthy and Arshdeep Singh as India scripted a comprehensive seven-wicket win against England in the first T20I of the five-match series here at the Eden Gardens, Wednesday.

Electing to field after winning the toss, Chakravarthy's 3-23 and Arshdeep's 2-17 helped India restrict the visitors to 132 all out, despite a valiant effort from skipper Jos Buttler (68, 44b, 8x4, 2x6).

In response, Indian openers Abhishek and Sanju Samson (26) gave the hosts a flying start with a 41-run partnership with the latter scoring bulk of the runs. Jofra Archer (2-21) reduced India to 41/2 in the fifth over dismissing Samson and skipper Suryakumar Yadav in a single over.

After that, it was all Abhishek show as he reached his half century in just 20 balls en route to a 34-ball 79 lashed with five fours and eight maximums. With just eight runs required to win, Abhishek perished after a superb 84-run stand for the third wicket with Tilak Varma. Later, Tilak and Hardik Pandya completed the formalities in the 13th over to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the series.

Earlier, Chakravarthy shined with figures of 3-23 as the Indian bowlers put in a magnificent performance to bowl out England for just 132 runs in the T20I series opener. For India, everything went right from the time they elected to bowl first.

Arshdeep took out the openers quickly to become India’s leading wicket-taker in men’s T20Is. After that, Chakaravarthy spun a brilliant spin web to leave England dazed in the middle overs. Axar Patel and Hardik also picked two wickets in a comprehensive bowling performance for India. For England, Buttler waged a lone battle, even as others fell around him.

Brief scores: England 132 all out in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 68; Varun Chakaravarthy 3-23, Arshdeep Singh 2-17) lost to India 133/3 (Abhishek Sharma 79; Jofra Archer 2-21) by 7 wickets.

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