India vs England T20 Series Preview

After an eventful Test series that had plenty of ebbs and flows, the attention now turns to the white ball leg of the tour. While India dominated the Tests, the T20 series promises to be a lot more competitive. England are currently the number one ranked T20 team in the world and are led brilliantly by Eoin Morgan. They have won seven of their last eight bilateral T20 series and haven’t lost a T20 series since their 2-1 defeat to India in 2018. England have unimaginable depth in their T20 team and have power hitters like Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy and Dawid Malan at the top of the order as well as finishers like Buttler and Ben Stokes.

India has also been successful in the shortest format off late, having won the last five bilateral T20 series on the bounce. Rohit Sharma will look to carry his form from the Tests into the T20 series alongside KL Rahul who returns to the line-up for the white ball games. The other key member of this Indian white ball set-up is all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Pandya is the most dangerous power-hitter in the Indian camp but didn’t bowl a single delivery during the IPL and the previous T20 series against Australia in December. India will be hoping that Pandya can return to some form of bowling fitness in this series which would completely change the dynamic and balance of this side.

These five matches represent a great chance for both teams to get some valuable game experience ahead of the T20 World Cup in October. Both India and England will look to test out different combinations and trial a few new players that have been added to the squad for this series such as Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Rahul Tewatia.

Predicted XI’s

After the much-maligned rest and rotation policy that England adopted in the Test matches, the visitors will be at full strength for the T20 games. The only concern for Eoin Morgan is the fitness of fast-bowler Jofra Archer who missed out in the last test in Ahmedabad due to an elbow injury.

India will be without Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah as well as newcomer Varun Chakravarthy who has been struggling with injury and fitness issues. However, they will be buoyed by the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar who hasn’t played for India since 2019. The hosts will be trialling newcomers like Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Natarajan in this series as they look to finalise their squad for the World Cup in October.

England XI: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

India XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal