The left-hander clobbered eight sixes and five fours in his scintillating 79 off 34 balls on Wednesday as India chased down a modest 133-run target in Kolkata in 12.5 overs.
The visitors' skipper Jos Buttler struck 68 off 44 balls but England were all out for 132 in exactly 20 overs, which was never going to test the explosive batting line-up of T20 world champions India.
Captain Jos Buttler was the only Englishman to put the India bowlers to the sword. (AP PHOTO)
The capitulation marked a miserable start for England's new white-ball era under Brendon McCullum, their New Zealand Test mentor who was overseeing his first match as all-formats coach in the first of the five-match T20 series.
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh gave India a strong start, removing both England openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett inside three overs after the home side elected to field.
Buttler counter-attacked, hitting Hardik Pandya for four fours in an over, throwing him out of the attack after the seamer's two expensive overs.
Varun Chakravarthy (3-23) was pressed into service instead and the lanky spinner dismissed Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone in the same over as England limped to 4-74 at the halfway stage of their innings.
Buttler raced to a 34-ball fifty before Chakravarthy got him caught in the deep by a diving Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel and seamer Pandya claimed two wickets apiece with India looking in a hurry when they began their chase.
Sanju Samson milked 22 runs, including four fours and a six, off Gus Atkinson's first over, prompting Buttler to withdraw the bowler.
Varun Chakaravarthy scalped 3⃣ wickets & bagged the Player of the Match Award! 👌 👌— BCCI (@BCCI) Scorecard ▶� https://t.co/4jwTIC5zzs#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/QqqC6Sz1e1January 22, 2025
Jofra Archer dismissed Samson for 26 and India captain Suryakumar Yadav in the same over, but the boundaries kept flowing.
Abhishek hit Mark Wood for back-to-back sixes and meted out the same treatment to England spinner Adil Rashid en route to a 20-ball fifty.
Rashid spilled a return catch when Abhishek was on 29 and it proved costly as the opener stepped on the gas immediately after the reprieve.
Rashid eventually dismissed the opener in the 12th over but India comfortably prevailed, giving them the series lead as the teams next face each other in Chennai on Sunday.
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