The game of cricket is evolving. And it is evolving very fast. It is amazing how India and England were playing a big test match just a day back and now they will be playing a big T20 game within 48 hours. There is so much to decide for the Indian team before the T20 World Cup and there are so many players who are playing so well to make sure that they board a seat on that World Cup flight.
One of the best things that has happened for team India is how the new players have come to the biggest stage of them all and still dominated. India has won the last 13 out of their 15 T20I’s since the last T20 World Cup. In a format which is known to be very unpredictable, India has been ever so consistent. And that too without some of their major players to help them.
A very interesting thing about this series is that India has named different squads for all three T20Is. This is very rare. But considering that the T20 World Cup is around the corner, this is bound to be the case. India will be playing without the services of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah & Ravindra Jadeja in this game. This will help players like Deepak Hooda, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Arshdeep Singh to make their cases stronger. It will be interesting to see how Captain Rohit Sharma plays as a full-time captain outside India for the first time.
England will also be playing with most of their key players. Jos Buttler and Jason Roy have been in the form of their lives. They have been pretty dominant no matter who they have played against. Dawid Malan, Moen Ali & Liam Livingstone have been equally good. England also doesn’t have some of their key players like Bairstow & Stokes who have been rested after the consecutive test games against New Zealand and India.
All in all, this should be a cracker jacker of a game where both sides have some serious talent and some very serious six-hitting ability. This one’s going to be a cracker.
England vs India 1st T20I Pitch Report: Rose Bowl, Southampton
Well, first things first, there is no rain predicted in this game. The average first innings score here is generally in the 160-170’s. In the T20 Blast, this season last 7 of the 5 games have been won by the side batting first. England likes to bat first and India likes to chase. So it will be interesting to see what the captain winning the toss decides to do.
England vs India 1st T20I Playing XI (Predicted)
England
Possible XI: Jos Buttler (c&wk), Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt, Harry Brook, Sam Curran/David Willey, Richard Gleeson, Chris Jordan/Reece Topley/Tymal Mills, Matthew Parkinson
India
Possible XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh/Avesh Khan/Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal
