In consonance with their top team status in T20 rankings, England cruised to 
Kevin Pietersen’s swashbuckling innings of 53 runs was brought to an end by Suresh Raina as the part-timer struck him on pads with the umpire gave him out even as the delivery was pitched outside leg.
Samith Patel holed on out to Tiwary at cover to hand Kohli his first wicket of the match after making 21 runs that included a boundary and a six.
Kevin Pietersen and Samith Patel ignored the early jitters to England’s innings as they looked in a hurry to finish the match, dealing in boundaries even as Indian bowlers struggled for wickets.
Rahane took a superb running catch at deep to send Alex Hales packing for early dinner as some electric fielding by the Indians brought back the Kolkata crowd to life.
The current target might be too tempting for a batsman in a T20 fixture but the nature of the pitch will definitely ensure that chasing 120 runs wouldn’t be a cakewalk for the English side.
Ravindra Jadeja dealt the first blow to England as he scalped Kieswetter for 12 runs in the fourth over of the England innings.
Kieswetter attempted to smash one out of the park but instead holed it out at deep to Manoj Tiwary.
Taking a cue from the Indian innings, Dhoni opened the bowling with R. Ashwin and Yusuf Pathan. India managed a decent total on a pitch that made the job of batsmen somewhat difficult.
India were left struggling early on in their innings losing their openers within the first two overs as English fielders displayed some of their best acrobatic moves on-field.
Indian captain MS Dhoni, collected 13 runs of the James Dernbach’s final over of the Indian innings to post a score of 120/9, exactly run-a-ball.
In a dramatic last over, where Dhoni was dropped by Bairstow, a rare mistake from English fielders, the next, he dispatched for a six. He was then run out at the last ball of the innings.
India’s struggle with the bat can best be summed up by the Ravi Bopara’s 17th wicket maiden over. But nevertheless, England bowled beautifully, making the most out of the slower Kolkata track.
Part time bowler, Ravi Bopara provided double blow to India, joining the party as English bowler maintained their tight grip over Indians, both in wickets and runs department.
His swinging deliveries shattered the stumps of big-hitter Yusuf Pathan and then slogger Praveen Kumar to leave India dumbstruck in the 17th over.
Steve Finn struck twice in consecutive deliveries to leave India in troubled waters.
Suresh Raina was the first of his victims as Raina tried cutting Finn towards point but instead, found Bairstow’s safe hands.
Next to go was in-form Ravindra Jadeja who edged the ball on to his stumps handling Finn, his third wicket of the match.
Manoj Tiwary’s struggle at the pitch came to an end as he tried to hit Samith Patel across the line but the ball found the off-stump handling Patel his first wicket of the match.
Suresh Raina continued unfazed as the southpaw provided some entertainment to the Kolkata crowd with a
few lusty hits on a pitch which is on the slower side.
Earlier, India lost three wickets quickly within the first five overs of the match as England fielders took some spectacular catches to send the host struggling for runs.
Virat Kohli launched a slower one towards mid-wicket area where AD Hales took a splendid catch covering a lot of ground to hand Bresnan his second wicket of the match.
India were off to a disastrous start as England bowlers struck twice in two overs to dismiss both of their openers.
Ajinkaya Rahane was the first one to be dismissed by Finn in the first over of the match as Kieswetter took a fabulous catch behind the stumps.
Rahane attempted a drive to a good length delivery that took a thick outside edge and went flying towards first slip
Robin Uthappa, who is playing his first ever international match since 2008 was the second to be dismissed as he poked a Bresnan’s delivery to hand Kieswetter his second catch of the match in as many overs.
Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bat against England in the lone T20I at Eden Gardens.
The match is being played on the same pitch where Indian spinners troubled English batsmen during the fifth and final ODI and again spin is going to play a crucial role.
This is the reason India have brought in Yusuf Pathan who will be joining R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the spin department.
Gautam Gambhir and Varun Aaron haven’t been included in the squad and Robin Uthappa gets his first international game for India since 2008. Yusuf Pathan, who was out of picture since the West Indies tour has been given a chance as well.
Teams
India: RV Uthappa, AM Rahane, V Kohli, SK Raina, MS Dhoni(c), MK Tiwary, YK Pathan, R Ashwin, RA Jadeja, R Vinay Kumar, P Kumar
England: C Kieswetter, AD Hales, KP Pietersen, RS Bopara, JM Bairstow, JC Buttler, SR Patel, TT Bresnan, GP Swann(c), ST Finn, JW Dernbach.