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WATCH: Arshdeep Singh becomes India's leading T20 wicket-taker with two early strikes against England

Indian cricket star Arshdeep Singh picks two early wickets to become the highest wicket taker in T20I format for the Men in Blue during first T20I match

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Arshdeep Singh claims two early wickets during first T20I against England

Arshdeep Singh Photograph: (X)

Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh got India to a perfect start during the first T20I against England on Wednesday. Former KKR opener Phil Salt was out for a duck when he played an ungainly shot against Arshdeep, only to be caught by Sanju Samson. This was Arshdeep’s 96th wicket in T20I cricket and he just needed four wickets to become the first Indian pacer to achieve the feat of 100 T20I wickets. 

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The incident happened on the third ball of the first over as Arshdeep bowled a short ball. Salt tried to play the ball down to the leg side and the batter got a leading edge. Sanju Samson settled under the ball and took a neat catch. It was an important wicket for India as the English batter has the ability to change the game with his bat.

Arshdeep then became the leading wicket taker for India in the T20 format when he dismissed Ben Duckett. The left-handed batter went to flick the ball and got a leading edge as Rinku Singh settled under the ball and took an easy catch. The 25-year-old got his 97th wicket and went past Yuzvendra Chahal. 

Team India exert early control against England 

Suryakumar Yadav decided to bowl first after winning the toss due to the conditions. Mohammed Shami was rested for the game as Hardik Pandya was given the new ball with Arshdeep Singh. Just three runs came off the first over of the game as the left-arm pacer kept a tight lid on England’s batting unit. 

Jos Buttler then smashed two fours off Pandya’s first over as nine runs came off his over. Ben Duckett played a scoop shot for four runs to signal his intentions. But the 30-year-old was out in the very next ball to give India the second wicket of the game. Those two strikers put India in a good position in the opening game of the campaign. 

Earlier in the day, Varun Chakravarthy spoke to the host broadcaster and said, “I made a conscious decision to play all the domestic and all the other tournaments that go around in India. I had a lot of games behind me, so that gave me confidence in the IPL and when I was able to make a comeback for the country, that actually helped me a lot. That's why I wanted to play more matches—to test out what I was trying.”

Arshdeep Singh Phil Salt Ben Duckett
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