What India learned from the T20 series against England

The Men in Blue overcame all odds to produce a stunning comeback and seal the series victory against England in Ahmedabad. Virat Kohli lost four of the five tosses and was without key men like Bumrah and Jadeja but still managed to win the series against the top-ranked T20 side in the world. While India will be happy with the series victory, what will please them even more is the experiments that paid off throughout the five games and how they are now set-up ahead of the World Cup in October. Here are the main takeaways for this India side and what they might have learned from this fascinating encounter against a top team.

Dream debuts for Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan

One of the most pleasing things from this series was the fine debuts of the Mumbai Indians pair of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. Both batsmen scored a half-century in their first innings in international cricket and played with the type of intent and fearlessness that Kohli emphasized before the series. Yadav in particular played with finesse and elegance as he staked a claim to be one of India’s main men in their middle order.

Virat Kohli the Opener

Due to the indifferent form of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, India had to use four opening combinations throughout the series and eventually might have stumbled on the right one in the final game. With Virat Kohli opening alongside Rohit Sharma, it gives India’s two best batsmen the blank canvas of 120 balls to attack the innings and play according to their own tempo. It also allows India to fill their middle order with dynamic attacking batsman such as Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Pant, Iyer and Pandya which makes them a much scarier unit.

Hardik Pandya the bowler

After seeing Hardik Pandya the batsman in the T20I series against Australia, India was finally able to see Hardik Pandya the bowler in this series after a lengthy spell on the side-lines. Hardik was extremely impressive with his control and use of the slower deliveries and ended the series with the second-best economy rate of only 6.94. Hardik’s bowling form is vital to the balance of India’s XI and his return to bowling fitness augurs well for the Men in Blue ahead of the World Cup on home soil.

The return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Arguably the most important aspect of this series from an Indian point of view was the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. After more than a year without playing international cricket, Bhuvi was back to his best in this five-match series in the absence of Bumrah. He was consistently giving India a great start with the new ball and ended up going at only 6.39 runs an over despite bowling the tricky overs at the start and the death. Kohli can finally trust Bhuvneshwar again in the key moments and the SRH pacer will have a big part to play in India’s World Cup campaign.