After facing a crushing defeat against India in the first T20I, England skipper Jos Buttler praised Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and said that he can swing the ball in every condition. An all-round performance from Hardik Pandya helped Team India defeat England by 50 runs in the first T20I of the three-match series, here at Southampton on Thursday. Bhuvneshwar Kumar scalped one wicket and conceded only 10 runs in his three-over spell. "They bowled well with the new ball and put us under pressure. We couldn't get away from that point. We came back really well in the second half with the ball. Probably a bit above par and they swung the ball consistently. Bhuvneshwar Kumar can swing it in any conditions," said Buttler in a post-match presentation.
"Certainly the ball swung longer than I can remember in a T20 game. Maybe we needed to hit one in the stands and stop that swing. We know the boys have the talent and we want to see them on the big stage," he added.
Hardik smashed 51 runs off 33 balls which took India's total to 198/8 in the first innings. Later, he went on to scalp four wickets and restricted England at 148. Apart from him, debutant Arshdeep Singh and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal scalped two wickets each.
Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda scored 39 and 33 runs, respectively. For England, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan scalped two wickets each, while Topley, Tymal Mills, and Parkinson took one wicket each.
Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan were the picks among the batters as they scored 36 and 26* runs, respectively.
Both the teams will be squaring off for the second T20I on Saturday at Birmingham.