An all-rounder performance from Axar Patel has set up India’s 6-wicket victory against England in the 1st ODI match played at Birmingham.
He picked four wickets and smashed an unbeaten 57 runs, guiding the side towards victory and secure 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
After choosing to bat first, England’s Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell opened the innings while Jasprit Bumrah opened the bowling attack.
The duo forged a decent start, scoring 51 runs in the power play. However, Gurnoor Brar broke the partnership and bagged the wickets of the openers in the 13th over.
Bethell scored 14 runs off 31 deliveries, while Ben Duckett added 43 runs. Joe Root came to bat at No. 3 while Harry Brook came to bat at No.4. Bumrah bagged his first wicket, dismissing Brook for 1 run.
As Joe Root tried to stabilise the innings, England lost two more wickets as Prasidh Krisha strike twice in the 17th over. He bagged the wicket of Jos Buttler (5) and Sam Curran (0).
With the dismissal of Will Jacks by Shivam Dube for 20 runs, England lost 6 wickets for 107 runs. However, a partnership from Joe Root and Liam Dawson revived the innings as both smashed half-centuries.
They forged a 111-run partnership before Dawson lost his wicket to Axar Patel for 68 runs. Axar Patel went on to pick his second wicket by dismissing Jofra Archer for 12 runs.
The Indian all-rounder went on to bag his third and fourth wicket bagging the wickets of Adil Rashid and Josh Tongue as England lost all 10 wickets for 258 runs.
A truly flawless all-round performance 🌟
Axar Patel bags the well-deserved POTM award for his 4️⃣-wicket haul and vital half-century 🔥
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/2sg194tpxH #TeamIndia | #ENGvIND | @akshar2026 pic.twitter.com/eSGYHXzXll
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 14, 2026
Joe Root remained unbeaten with 76 runs. Meanwhile, Axar Patel picked a four-wicket haul while Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar completed their respective spells.
Chasing 259 run target, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill opened the innings while Jofra Archer opened the innings.
Sam Curran drew the first blood, dismissing Rohit Sharma for 11 runs, while Virat Kohli, who came to bat at no.3, got dismissed on an lbw for 5 runs.
Shreyas Iyer came to bat at No.4 and joined Shubman Gill to stabilise the innings as India scored 56 runs in the powerplay.
Shubman Gill smashed a solid fifty while Shreyas Iyer lost his wicket on a runout. Soon after, India’s captain went back to dug out on retired hurt after scoring 80 runs.
With KL Rahul’s cheap dismissal, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel stood firm, setting up the side’s clinical win against England.
Both smashed half-centuries as India completed the chase in the 46th over. Axar Patel and Washington Sundar remained unbeaten with 57 and 52.
Axar Patel was named as the Player of the Match. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Axar said, “The way the T20 series went, this is the perfect start for us. Very happy with the way I performed today. I had to bowl stump-to-stump and vary my pace. In the batting, we got a very good start. We just had to rotate the strike. When I went there, Washi was there. We wanted to build a partnership. We were ahead of the game.”
