IND vs ENG | 1st T20: Preparation for World T20 adds context to white-ball extravaganza

After the battle of attrition, and a sheer dominance by the Indian team around flowing accusations and counter-accusations over the quality of pitches in the series, the sides will welcome the prospect of the white-ball series.

India picked up their momentum after facing a huge loss in the first Test of the series, while England floundered their early advantage, owing to some poor selection calls and ineptitude against spin bowling. 

England were also ridiculed by experts and former cricketers for rotating and resting around players and not fielding their best possible XI after the first Test, while India attacked them will all their best possible resources.

Contrastingly in the T20 series, it will be England who will at full strength with the likes of Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy coming to India and this series, while India will miss some of their first-choice players due to injuries or personal reasons along 

While both England and India will have their one eye on the coveted prize of the T20 World Cup, their objectives in the upcoming series could not be more contrasting. England have come in this series with a goal of finetuning their best possible XI and finding out their possible plan of action for the global tournament, Virat Kohli and the Indian team management will use this series to settle in on a perfect squad given they have a problem of plenty at their hands.

India will miss the services of Jasprit Bumrah, their and one of the best bowler in the T20 format, Ravindra Jadeja, who has leapfrogged as a genuine all-rounder over the past few years, and also Mohammed Shami, who has developed a good yorker to serve him well in the shortest format. 

On the other hand, England will have at their full-strengths after Jos Buttler, and Moeen Ali have returned to India for the series. England at full strength for the T20 and ODI series following the Test series where the tourists were seen rotating players and sending them back home to give them rest amid a gruelling schedule this year also attracted many criticisms from commentariat on the question of format the ECB and England team management are preferring to win this year.

India vs England: Match Details

Match No.-01

Date and Time: March 12, 07:00 PM IST, 01:30 PM GMT

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports, Hotstar

Pitch conditions

The first T20I between India and England will be the first international T20 game to be played at the recently-renamed Narendra Modi Stadium.

If the shreds of evidence from the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy are anything to go by, England should hope for nothing but an extended trial by spin after the Test series. 

The knockout stage of India’s domestic T20 tournament was played at this ground, and spinners tasted a huge amount of success on surfaces that supported turn from the word go.

Team News

India

The absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Jadeja, along with ambiguity over the bowling fitness of Hardik Pandya have created a sense of quagmire for the Indian team management in the series. However, this opens up new waves of opportunity for the fringe players to step up their game and stake claim for a place in the squad for the World T20.

They have handed maiden call ups to deserving players such as Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, and Rahul Tewatia and they are likely to be given opportunities at some point in the series as India are looking to lock various key positions that are still open in the playing XI. However, Tewatia has missed the fitness Test and most likely will sit out from the first game of the series.

There is intense competition in the batting order, especially for the second opener and the batsman for the number four slot in the playing XI. Kohli and Ravi Shastri will have their task cut out in leaving one of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul while for the number four slot, the choice will have to be taken for one of Suryakumar Yadav, Kishan and Shreyas Iyer.

The absence of Jadeja and Hardik’s issues with fitness will hand over Axar Patel an excellent opportunity to impress the captain and selectors while Shardul Thakur can also claim a place in the playing XI for his capabilities of providing blit in the latter part of the innings.

Strongest XI

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur/Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar/Navdeep Saini

England

There are no injury concerns and neither any doubts about the four batsmen at the top of the order for England with the likes of Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow having done enough on the previous occasion to cement their places.

Bairstow has been in torrid form with the bat in Tests against India, but he has shown the independence of his batting form from one format to another and it should not be a case of concern for the tourists for the shortest format.

The batting order picks itself as Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan have relegated themselves down the order to provide the flourishes end while setting up or chasing big scores and the role for the duo is unlikely to change in the five-match series against India.

Young guns such as Liam Livingstone and Sam Billings have put up their names in the reckoning for places in the team on the back of dominant performances in the Big Bash League, but the top order is too settled to be shaken up their performances as of now.

England’s all-format talisman with the ball Jofra Archer has been under an injury cloud and the uncertainties around the recurrence of his elbow injury remain hovering over the T20 side. The pacer had missed the two Tests against India due to his injury and is a doubtful starter for the first game of the series. Archer’s pain can be a massive gain for the likes of Reece Topley and tom Curran.

Strongest XI

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