England are thrashed by India in Brendon McCullum’s first white-ball match in charge as head coach gets off to nightmare start

A new beginning but the same old story for England as their struggles against spin resurfaced at the start of Brendon McCullum’s multi-format coaching era, allowing India to romp into a 1-0 Twenty20 series lead at Eden Gardens.

Here on the subcontinent 10 months ago, Ben Stokes’ Test team were consigned to a humbling 4-1 defeat and they also slumped against Pakistan last autumn, relinquishing a lead on both occasions.

T20 is a different beast to Test cricket, of course, but failings against the turning ball were to the fore after the reigning world champions asked England to bat first under the floodlights.

Between them, India’s three spinners Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi combined for figures of 12-1-67-5 to leave the tourists with an overwhelmingly under-par total in front of a Kolkata crowd pushing the ground’s 68,000 capacity.

Buttler, an Indian Premier League veteran, used his experience to hang in there, but was running out of partners by the time he mishit leg-spinner Chakravarthy to deep square leg for a 44-ball 68.

At the other end, his team-mates mustered a sorry 53 runs from 76 deliveries between them.

England’s T20 side were thrashed by India in their first game under new head coach Brendon McCullum on Wednesday

England were put into bat and logged just 132, with India chasing the total down inside 13 overs

England were put into bat and logged just 132, with India chasing the total down inside 13 overs

McCullum (left) has taken over the role and added it to his work as head coach of the Test side

McCullum (left) has taken over the role and added it to his work as head coach of the Test side

And a target of 133 was never going to challenge an Indian batting unit that has moved on seamlessly from the Twenty20 retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli following last year’s World Cup win.

England’s only hope of victory was to take early wickets and Buttler delivered on his pre-series to post funky fields, taking his place under the helmet at short leg for Jofra Archer’s examining opening over.

Archer’s new-ball spell did temporarily silence the hime crowd when Suryakumar Yadav – who got off the mark on debut by hitting him for a six here back in 2021 – was duped by a slower ball for a second wicket in four balls.

But Abhishek Sharma, one of several new poster boys in Indian cricket, was in no mind to let it last, powering to 50 in just 20 balls as India made it 15 wins from 18 matches under Yadav’s leadership, by seven wickets with 43 deliveries unused.

Mark Wood, back after four months out with an elbow injury, clocked speeds touching 96 miles per hour, but left-hander Sharma simply turned his pace against him, flicking and guiding two of his eight sixes behind the wicket, from successive balls, to quell any sense of an England fightback.

England did pass up the opportunity to stop him in his tracks when, on 29, he was floored by Adil Rashid in his follow through, and put him down again immediately before his eventual dismissal for 79.

But this was not a night to judge bowlers battling dew and defending a minuscule score on a ground of modest boundaries.

It is the batting group with issues to address ahead of Saturday’s second match of five in Chennai.

Ben Duckett opened the batting but managed four before being dismissed by Arshdeep Singh

Ben Duckett opened the batting but managed four before being dismissed by Arshdeep Singh

Captain Jos Buttler top scored with 68 but his side have work to do in order to bounce back

Captain Jos Buttler top scored with 68 but his side have work to do in order to bounce back

Phil Salt, England’s leading run scorer in Twenty20 internationals in 2024, began the new year with a blob, unable to contend with an Arshdeep Singh seamer that threatened to cut him in half.

Soon afterwards, Ben Duckett, opening for the first time in 20-over cricket for England since his debut six years ago, perished trying to go aerial.

But it was not until the intervention of Chakravarthy that things went completely south. Indeed,

England were on a spree of 26 runs in 11 balls when two googlies in three deliveries altered the momentum of the contest.

Harry Brook may have considered himself unfortunate to play own via inside edge and pad but had looked anything but convincing in scrambling to 17.

And when Liam Livingstone was bowled through the gate, it left a hugely inexperienced 6, 7 and 8 combination of Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton and Gus Atkinson exposed. They showed little resistance between them.

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