England 191 for 6 (Bethell 76*, Brook 39, Arshdeep 3-40) beat India 190 for 7 (Kishan 49, Abhishek 43, Curran 3-33) by four wickets

Sooryavanshi famously hit his first ball in IPL cricket inside out over extra cover for six. He didn’t quite have such an immediate impact in India blue, swinging and missing at his first two balls from Josh Tongue – another debutant, but one who, at 28, has played fewer T20s than Sooryavanshi.

Tongue delivered five wides down leg from the next, before Sooryavanshi got off the mark digging out a yorker for one. Then came the first “I was there” moment, as Sooryavanshi faced up to his Rajasthan Royals team-mate Archer and then piled into a trademark over-the-shoulder sweep then sailed into the crowd beyond fine leg.

His seventh ball was also dispatched for six over deep midwicket, with India targeting the shorter side of the ground. But Abhishek took up the running as the opening stand reached 50 in the fifth over, and Sooryavanshi didn’t make it any further, lured from his ground by Will Jacks’ offspin and unable to slide his foot back as Jos Buttler completed the stumping.

Abhishek tucks into England – again

England are Abhishek’s favourite international opponents, scoring almost a quarter of his runs against them (390 off 1589) in eight appearances, with a strike rate of 214.28. He looked a little rusty to begin with, despite hitting 59 off 24 on Wednesday night, swinging and missing with regularity to be 8 off 12 balls – one of his two boundaries a thick inside edge off Archer that just missed leg stump.

Squeezed middle

From 65 for 2 after six, India consolidated through the third-wicket partnership of Iyer and Kishan. The next four overs went for single-figures, to leave them 96 for 2 at halfway. Kishan was going at a run a ball and could have been dismissed for 15 in the 11th when he underhit a slog-sweep off Adil Rashid; but Phil Salt was several yards in from the rope and could only palm a one-handed overhead chance for four.

Runs were still coming readily, nevertheless, and Iyer brought up the 50 partnership from 33 balls with a delicate steer off a Tongue slower delivery. He was then struck on the hand by one that reared up, requiring treatment from the physio before continuing. A six off Liam Dawson was India’s first since the powerplay, but Iyer fell to a running catch at deep extra cover as England once again made a timely breakthrough with the score on 130 for 3.

Tilak’s cool finish

The home side fightback continued through the back of the innings. Shivam Dube, so destructive at the Riverside, found his timing had deserted him, falling for 5 off 7 during a 16th over delivered by Curran at a cost of two runs. Kishan broke the shackles by reverse-sweeping Jacks and then clubbing Curran over extra cover – but then skied his next ball to mid-off. Axar Patel was run out by Buttler as India only managed 37 runs off 35 balls after the dismissal of Iyer.

However, a disputed wide call against Tongue allowed Harshit Rana to belt the final ball of the 19th over for six, and Varma then cashed in to the short side with back-to-back launches into the crowd off Archer, followed by a slice over the head of short third, as India scraped up to 190.

England openers brought down to earth

On this ground last September, England’s opening pair of Salt and Buttler put on 126 inside eight overs against South Africa. Buttler made 83 off 30 balls, while Salt batted through the innings for an unbeaten 141 from 60 – England becoming the first Full Member nation to rack up 300 in a T20I.

This time around, neither got past the first over, delivered by Arshdeep. Salt, playing on his home ground for the first time in almost 10 months, could only smile ruefully as his attempt to cut his first ball ended up as a nick to the keeper. Arshdeep then added Buttler for a three-ball duck, a firm clip off the pads snaffled above his head by Varun Chakravarthy at midwicket to leave England 1 for 2 after one.

Brook breaks back

Brook quickly set about righting the ship, picking off Harshit Rana for consecutive fours in the second over and then making a significant dent in Arshdeep’s figures. The sequence read 4-4-6-6-6 on paper but that only touched on the destructiveness as Brook took advantage of width to slap fours through point and down the ground, then the overcorrection into the body by pinging Arshdeep over the short boundary. The third six was actually caught by Axar at deep backward square leg, but his momentum forced him to toss the ball away – only for it to land flush on the boundary cushion.

With Bishnoi conceding a pair of boundaries in his opening over, Brook and Bethell quickly patched up the damage with a fifty stand from 23 balls. But Axar separated them immediately after, though it required the intervention of DRS to pick up a brush of Brook’s glove down the leg side that was well held by Kishan. England had to rebuild again, ending the powerplay on 61 for 3.

Bethell shows mettle

Bethell had been going at roughly a run a ball until he belted Varun for six in the 10th over, as a measured stand of 67 with Banton helped get England into range. When Banton sliced the returning Arshdeep to deep point, they needed 73 from the last seven – but the rate climbed further as Varun and Axar delivered tight overs, the former removing Jacks lbw to leave England five down.