Kuldeep puts England in a spin in first T20I

Kuldeep Yadav took his maiden five-wicket haul in T20I cricket and Lokesh Rahul struck his second ton in the shortest format as India beat England by eight wickets in the first game of a three-match series at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

After India captain Virat Kohli had won the toss and opted to field, left-arm spinner Kuldeep came into his own in the middle overs as he returned remarkable figures of 5-24 in four overs as England hustled to 159/8.

Kuldeep’s burst allowed India back into the match after the home team had got off to a good start with the bat as openers Jos Buttler and Jason Roy (30 off 20 balls) put on 50 in the five overs.

England though suffered a calamitous collapse as they went from 106/2 in the 14th over to 117/6 in the space of four overs as Kuldeep weaved his magic.

Buttler was the lone fighter as made his way to 69 off 46 balls before he was out with 14 balls of the innings still remaining.

India lost Shikhar Dhawan (4) in the first over of the run-chase when he was bowled by David Willey but Rohit Sharma (32) and Rahul added 123 for the second wicket with the latter being the aggressor.

By the time Rohit was out to the leg-spin of Adil Rashid, India only needed another 30 runs to win and Kohli (22 not out) kept Rahul company until the end as the opener made his way to an unbeaten 101 off 54 balls.

England now need to win the second T20I in Cardiff on Friday to stay alive in the series.