India’s top three, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli, were all dismissed by English debutant Richard Gleeson in the 2nd T20I at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Saturday. The Men in Blue were reduced to 70/3 in 8.3 overs. 

After winning the toss, England skipper Jos Buttler asked Rohit Sharma’s men to bat first. The Indians played aggressive cricket from the very first over. The skipper, who opened along with Pant, swung and edged the second ball of the innings. He was dropped on the fourth. But none of the mishits affected his attacking gameplay. Sharma kept hitting regular boundaries till he was dismissed for 31 runs off 20 deliveries. 

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His partner Pant mixed up cheeky shots with his power hits. The third over bowled by pacer David Willey went for 17 runs. The Indian wicket-keeper then punished a short ball by spinner Moeen Ali in the next over. India were at 49 runs in 4.4 overs when they lost Rohit Sharma. 

The Indian skipper went after a short and quick ball by Gleeson. He looked to pull it but a hurried shot saw only him miss the delivery, which touched his gloves and the catch was taken by keeeper Buttler. 

Losing his partner did not affect Pant. The 24-year-old smashed Moeen Ali for a six and the a boundary in consecutive balls. India were 61/1 in the powerplay. 

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The next wicket to fall was Virat Kohli’s. The former Indian skipper, whose place in the Indian T20I squad has been questioned, fell to a back of length pacy ball by Gleeson. Like Rohit Sharma, Kohli too wanted to smash the bowler but top edged. Dawid Malan took an easy catch. 

Richard Gleeson managed to tempt Rishabh Pant on the next ball. The Indian batter shimmied against a length ball and looked to swing it across the line only to thick edge it to the keeeper. The Delhi Capitals captain made 26 runs in 15 balls with the help of four boundaries and one maximum. 

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were also dismissed by the 11th over mark.