England beat India by 8 wickets in opening T20 of 5 match series in Ahmedabad.
The win earlier today was about as perfect a performance as you could have wished for.
Skipper Eoin Morgan – while delighted with the win – must have had that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, that things can only go one way from here. Down!
No way are England going to have another day like that any time soon.
Short of winning by 10 wickets, and taking 10 catches, things could not have gone more perfect for Morgan.
He won the toss, every bowling change he tried worked. And even opening up with Adil Rashid paid off for the English skipper. In fact, all of the England bowlers played a roll in restricting India to just 124/7 from their 20 Overs.
On the batting front, it would have been nice for Jason Roy to have got a half century. But his 49 is another small step as he slowly tries to rebuild his confidence after a dry spell.
The other negative was the lack of action for the rest of the batsmen, and Morgan will no doubt want to see his side challenged.
A challenge is quite inevitably on its way though. There is no way this Indian side is going to steam rolled like that in the remaining four matches.
Where do India go from here though? With the exception of two or three, this was pretty much India’s best team. The simple facts of the matter are that these players need to do better. And I’ve no doubt they will.
We’ve seen it before when one side gets on top in a match. In a short format like T20, when a team is completely on top, there is little chance for opponents to mount a serious fightback.
India just have to dust themselves down, and come back strongly on Sunday.
