England put up an underwhelming performance in the first of the five-match T20I series against India at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday (January 22). They lost the match by seven wickets with only Jos Buttler clicking with the bat while Jofra Archer showed signs of his old self with the ball picking up two wickets. While most of their other players had an off day, fast bowler Gus Atkinson arguably endured the worst outing for any player in T20 cricket history.
Atkinson came out to bat at number eight after England lost Jamie Overton in the 14th over with only 95 runs on the board. He was expected to lend support to his skipper Buttler who was batting so well at the other end. But Atkinson struggled to even put bat to ball mustering only two runs off 13 deliveries at a poor strike rate of 15.38.
With the ball, he took the new ball with Archer and conceded a staggering 38 runs in his two overs with Indian openers Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson smashing him to all parts of the stadium. It was a poor start for him to the series as Atkinson became the first-ever player in T20 cricket history to strike at less than 30 and concede at an economy of more than 18.
Many are surprised with Gus Atkinson's poor show as he has been exceptional in Tests with both bat and ball so far. He has recorded third-best match figures in the longest format on debut having picked up 12 wickets against the West Indies at Lord's last year. At the same venue, he scored a century and also picked up a five-fer against Sri Lanka later in the year.
Gus Atkinson will be keen on putting the first T20I behind quickly and coming up with a good show in the next game to be played on Saturday (January 25) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.