4th T20I Preview: Experimenting India search depth against dominant England

Team India face the prospect of do-or-die games more often than not and the situation is not at all different for the Virat Kohli-led side in the ongoing T20I series against England where another let-up in performance will see them facing an embarrassing loss at home conditions.

They started the series on a terrible note as the batsmen with the purpose of batting with the ‘new approach’ failed to walk the talk on attacking England bowlers. They bounced back resoundingly in the second T20 of the series showing o dearth of talents and firepower in the team.

However, after showing glimpses of what they can, especially with the bat, India came back to their dismal batting performance in the third T20 where batsmen failed to rise to the challenges of facing Mark Wood and Jofra Archer bowling with full heat. They showed all the signs of taking the game on to the England camp but failed to come to terms with the quality of offerings from the England bowling attack.

Indian team management has already outlined the importance of this series with respect to the World T20 at the end of this year. They have been trying to explore areas of the game with methods they are not accustomed to and hence the defeats will not pinch them hard as of yet. 

However, what will hurt them is that a side experimenting should be able to find answers to questions they have been unable to answer over the years, but in their case, they are looking like a side exposing more wounds than they can heal in very less number of matches left before the World T20.

KL Rahul’s lack of game time is showing up in his tentativeness against the new ball and the scores of 0,1,0,0 in the last four T20Is could just well be an unravelling of their ‘best batsman in T20Is’ as the coach and skipper pressed upon after the loss in the third T20I.

Apart from the opening slot, India have other riddles to solve as well. They have rewarded performers of the IPL for the flamboyance they offer to the batting order crowded with anchors. However, Suryakumar Yadav got benched just after a game where he could not even come to the crease with the bat in his hands, while Kishan was demoted to the number three position despite making a rollicking start in his international T20 career. 

From the outset, Rishabh Pant has more explosive innings to offer than Shreyas Iyer, who used to be the preferred number four for India till the lasts series against Australia. But the dominant form the wicketkeeper-batsman has been showing in the Test cricket, along with Iyer’s excellence with the bat in the first game of the series has made life difficult for the team management while taking decisions on the batting order

On the other hand, England, as they appeared before the series started, have been superb with their stability and tactics. Eoin Morgan has reaped success riding on the strong and rapid shoulders of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. Adil Rashid has only enhanced his reputation having bowled successfully in the powerplay, but Morgan’s precision with the deployment of leg spinner has also been key to both his and England success in the two-games the tourists have won.

They walked into the last game with two of their batsmen in Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan struggling to hit the ground running with the bat. But, the silence of Buttler’s bat did not last long as the right-hander did not walk off the ground before winning England the game after walking in to chase a middling score. However, the concerns around Malan must be appearing to deepen in the set up.

India vs England: Match Details

Match No.-04

Date and Time: March 18, 07:00 PM IST, 01:30 PM IST

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports, Hotstar

Pitch conditions

In all the three games so far in the series, Toss has played a massive role in deciding the outcome and winner of the matches. The pitches have shown signs of holding off balls more in the first innings while it has become easier for the batsmen batting in the second innings.

England won the first and third toss of the series, and went on to win both those games, while the god of toss smiled only once on Kohli.

Either side will know the competitive advantages of batting second in the fourth game, but as the series is a build-up for the preparation of the T20 World Cup, they will be keen to defend a total in the remaining two games.

Team News

India

KL Rahul will feel the weight of the world against him for continuous poor scores with the bat. However, he has been India’s mainstay in the shortest format, and hence the team is unlikely to give up on him as it will dent his confidence further.

India have played with the cushion of an extra batsman in the last two games. However, that move has not paid off too well for them and it also pushes batsmen comfortable batting at the top to lower positions and hence Kohli might be tempted to walk away from that tactics in the fourth game to include Axar Patel in the playing XI.

Rohit Sharma’s return was expected but Suryakumar Yadav’s exclusion created a furore on social media. But, Kohli has his hands tied behind him in terms of selecting batsmen. Yadav can come back to the playing XI only if he can take the brave call of resting either himself or Pant for the next game. In all probability, there is a slim chance for even one of them resting and howsoever popular Yadav’s return would turn out to be, fans have to wait a bit more.

Strongest XI

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan(wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal

England

Dawid Malan has been finding it tough to attack Indian spinners, but one of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler has batted supremely at the top to highlight his plight with the bat. 

There is clamour among some corners of England cricket that Morgan is not using Ben Stokes efficiently and has slotted him way down the order. Stokes has phenomenal record batting at the top of the order in IPL, and hence Malan might find himself under a bit of pressure. However, there is no imminent threat to his place in the Playing XI.

In the bowling department, Chris Jordan’s place is most insecure having leaked far too many runs than Morgan would have liked. Moeen Ali who can offer an extra spinning option to Morgan and also provide late order blitz to the batting order might get back in the playing XI.

Strongest XI

Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid