England and India were left frustrated as the opening match of their three-match T20 series was abandoned due to rain midway through the match.
India, who entered the match on the back of a surprise series defeat in Ireland, had set a league target of 189-7 in 20 overs after notching half-centuries from Abhishek Sharma and Shreyas Iyer.
However, England’s chase failed to materialize as the drizzle that had fallen for most of the Indian innings became increasingly heavy and the match was called off in 2017 local time.
India, who once again opted to delay a debut for their 15-year-old batsman Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, had fought back well after a poor start.
The Indians were 6-2 after two overs, with opener Sanju Samson departing to a flying catch from Tom Banton at backward point off Saqib Mahmood and Ishan Kishan being run out two balls later by Harry Brook after a mix-up with Abhishek Sharma.
Sharma, deposed by Kishan at the top of the ICC T20 batting rankings, shook off the incident to take the attack to England, sending Mahmood for successive sixes.
The 25-year-old needed more than 100 international T20 sixes. He is the fastest player to reach the milestone with 785 balls.
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Three successive boundaries off Luke Wood kept the momentum going as India reached 61-2 at the end of the six-over powerplay.
The attack gave Brook, who captained England’s white-ball side two days after being part of the Test team that lost the series to New Zealand, a lot to think about.
He turned to Sam Curran and it proved a smart decision as the left-handed Sharma trapped lbw with his second ball for an exciting 59 off 24 balls.
India captain Iyer, who hit a beautiful six through extra cover off Wood, made a more crafty 68 off 47 balls before falling lbw to Mahmood who finished with 3-33.
Shivam Dube finished on 42 not out off 21 balls.
India, who defeated England in a high-scoring semi-final on their way to World Cup glory in March, would have been pleased with their total but England were still in the match.
The teams move to Old Trafford, Manchester for the second match of the series on Saturday.
Published on July 2, 2026
