During the second T20I on Friday, Indian cricket team will be looking to seal the three-match T20I series on their ongoing England tour. India is currently leading the series by 0-1 after achieving a smashing 8 wickets victory (with 10 balls remaining) in the first T20I at Manchester on Tuesday night.
The second T20I will be another day/night encounter that will be played at Sophia Gardens (Cardiff). While the next two games are the must-win games for England, India is a confident team at present after thrashing the tough opponent in the opening game of the tour.
While the English openers started very well in the powerplay, they struggled against the Indian wrist-spinners, especially the left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav destroyed them with the 4-0-24-5 bowling figure.
Jos Buttler once again showcased his brilliant batting skills as he once again took the responsibility to shape the innings with his 69-run knock off 46 balls. But, the most of the other batsmen failed to provide the minimum support to him. Despite getting a good start, England’s strong batting line-up horrifically dashed in the second half of their innings and that set the tone for the visitors which they grabbed in the proper way.
In short, the English batting line-up is again exposed in the front of Indian spinners. To make a comeback in this short T20I series, the hosts need to make a massive improvement on their batting skills against the Indian wrist-spinners.
In-form KL Rahul again showcased his brilliant batting performance as he took the major responsibility in the 160-run chase with the unbeaten 101-run knock. During the second T20I, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has surely wanted to see the other Indian batsmen as well.
Due to the KL Rahul’s destructive batting performance, the England bowlers didn’t get enough chance to spread out during the Indian innings. It again shows the English bowlers’ huge consistency problems. While India has a strong batting line-up, the hosts have to face continuously this tough deal.
Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav’s superior performance helped to cover any issue in the Indian bowling line-up. While the dependable Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah is not available for the T20I series, the bowling team can’t sit back, especially against the long and tough batting line-up.
India is now looking for their new T20I record as their victory in the second T20I will mean their eight consecutive T20I victories. On the other hand, the inconsistent T20I team England is desperate to level the series by winning the Cardiff clash.
Full-member squad for the three-match T20I series
England squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Dawid Malan.
India squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.
