After crushing England 2-1 in the recently held ODI series, confident team India under the immaculate leadership of Virat Kohli, is now ready take on England for the shortest format of the game. Kohli’s captaincy at the ODI series was fantastic and he will look forward to repeat the same feat at the upcoming three-T20 matches too.
Paytm T20 Trophy – India vs England
Indian spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin has been rested for this T20 series. Some fantastic domestic cricket performances by Rasool and Chahal have brought them back to India’s T20 squad. It would be interesting to see how they will exploit this opportunity. No doubt, both Ashwin and Jadeja have disappointed fans in the ODI series. Their bowling and batting didn’t help the team in any of the occasions.
Skipper Kohli is confident that the newbie Rasool will be able to impress the selectors and fans with his off-spin bowling skills. He is the only specialist off-spinner for India in this series. Kohli sounded positive when asked about the return of senior cricketers like Yuvraj, Raina and Nehra in the T20 team. Even though Raina hadn’t played any international matches since World T20 2016, it is expected that he will play well in the upcoming T20 series against England. Super seniors like Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra are always an asset for the side for their proven track records and consistent performances. Yuvraj gave astonishing performance at the ODI series held a few days back.
The Speculations and Rumors
Dew factor will once again come to play post evening of the match. Run-fest will continue at Greenpark stadium in Kanpur. Kohli will have three spin options; Mishra, Chahal and Rasool. It is quite sure that he will go with any two depending upon the situation and mood of the pitch.
India’s opening pair will be Rishabh Pant and Lokesh Rahul. His performance might have not so satisfactory at the recently concluded ODI series but he will be in the team because without Dhawan in the side, Kohli might show faith in KL Rahul for the opening slot.
For English dressing room, they don’t have too many options to experiment with. They will try to keep the momentum going. Jason Roy’s brilliant performance in the ODI series with well-crafted fifties; 83, 72 and 65 is expected to continue in the T20 series too. Captain Eoin Morgan is also in finest touch. English bowlers Jake ball and David Willey will once again spearhead the English bowling attack.
Probable XI
England: Eoin Morgan (Captain), Jos Buttler (Wicket Keeper), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jake Ball, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Tymal Mills and Liam Plunkett.
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Lokesh Rahul, Mandeep Singh, MS Dhoni (Wicket-Keeper), Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant (Reserved WicketKeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Parvez Rasool.
Tags: 1st T20I, England, India, Kanpur, Paytm T20 Trophy
