Currently, the Indian cricket team is standing at the second position in the ICC T20I rankings, while England is down at No.4. But in English conditions, the difference in rankings seems to be small, however, Team India has witnessed a thumping 2-0 series win against Ireland in the similar conditions. The first of three T20Is could well be a close encounter.
Of the two teams, India is more T20I ready, while their English counterparts played just one T20I against Australia at home. India, meanwhile, was away in Ireland playing a two-match T20I series against the hosts. Men in blue had a gem of time in Ireland and they are now all geared up to face England as well.
English batsman Jos Buttler is in particularly good form, hitting a half-century in the game against Australia, while their top-order is also showing some signs of attack with the bat.
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The good thing for India is that they have best of the team to pick from. A batting unit comprising of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey is a formidable one in any part of the world.
India also has a solid fast bowling attack led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Siddarth Kaul, Hardik Pandya, the all-rounder, and Deepak Chahar, who is yet to make his T20I debut. There are spin options in Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, and Krunal Pandya too, and it might be tricky for the team management to leave players out.
On paper, India is the superior team. But England is looking forward to coming hard on men in blue as well.
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In the T20I cricket history, they have met 11 times out of which the hosts have won 6 games while the Indian team had won 5. Coming to the upcoming series, while none of the team is a favorite side, India’s team combination will be interesting to watch. Going with the current form it seems very difficult to pick a particular XI but we are trying best to analyze the squad.
Rohit and Shikhar are the proven openers, while, the no. 3 position is a doubtful one as in T20I series against Ireland Rahul did the job while Raina was also satisfied with his role and both are in good form. Kohli seems to be coming at no. 4 as there are too many top-order options already for Team India, followed by none other than Dhoni who did a phenomenal job for CSK in IPL 2018 at no. 5.
Again no. 6 position is a tricky one with two contenders for it, one is Manish Pandey, who has had some average performances in recent past and the other one is Dinesh Karthik who is enjoying the purple patch in his career. Hardik Pandya is expected to be the first all-rounder followed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In the bowling department, with Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar getting injured, Bhuvneshwar, Chahal, and Kuldeep make the direct entry, while the fourth place is expected to be filled by either Umesh of Kaul as both had a decent outing against Ireland.
India’s predicted T20I XI against England:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul/ Suresh Raina,Virat Kohli (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik/ Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Siddharth Kaul/Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal.
