At 22 for 3 it was evident that India's top three had played the format, instead of the situation. ©BCCI
With a home World Cup around the corner, India's batting unit had received a "play aggressive" memo from their skipper on the eve of the T20I series opener against England, and they followed it to a tee. But while the intent was honest, the execution went awry in the first of the five attempts at hand.
Sample the three dismissals at the top of the order.
England threw a googly upfront, literally and figuratively, and Adil Rashid squeezed out a tidy opening over for two. Jofra Archer cranked up the pace at the other end and KL Rahul ended up dragging one back onto his stumps to fall for 1 off 4 in that wicket-maiden second over. Trying to break free, Virat Kohli went hard at one from Rashid and flat-batted it straight to mid-off to bag a five-ball duck in the third. That he had attempted a similar shot against Archer in just the previous over - yet to get off the mark - and it didn't come off, didn't seem to faze him.
Promoted at No. 4 and in red-hot form, Rishabh Pant launched a brief counterattack as he picked 14 off his first eight - including a six off a reverse sweep off Archer at express pace. But when Shikhar Dhawan tried to heave one to leg, he was cleaned up by Mark Wood for a 12-ball 4. India were left stuttering at 20 for 3 after 5 overs - a blow England's bowlers never even let the hosts recover from despite Shreyas Iyer's fighting 67.
