India vs England T20I Series is all set for a kick off and after some mind boggling, record breaking and ball smashing games in the last couple of weeks, both the teams have geared up to lock horns in the shortest cricket format.
The recently concluded three match India vs England ODI series was nothing short of a run fest as a total of 2090 runs were scored, the highest ever in a three match One Day International series and the final leg of England’s tour of India is definitely going to leave us in rapid pulse.
The first match of the series will be played on 26th January at Green Park, Kanpur and Indians are definitely going to sit before the televisions sets for a long time, after watching the Republic Day celebrations.
Coming to the playing eleven of both teams, England’s squad remains pretty much the same as was seen in the ODI series while there are 6 huge changes in India’s lineup. Ashwin and Jadeja have been rested for the T20I series, Amit Mishra and debutant Parvez Rasool being their replacement. Ashish Nehra has also been added to the squad and it will be interesting to see whether he will be included in the playing eleven or Virat Kohli will go with in form bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
Selectors are facing another dilemma as they have to choose between Amit Mishra and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Indian Team is also finding it hard to come up with a dependable opening pair and since Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane have been ruled out of the series, we will see a new pair of KL Rahul will be opening the batting lineup with either Mandeep Singh or Rishabh Pant, who have played exceptionally well in domestic cricket.
Yuvraj Singh has finally found his form and his recent partnership with MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav’s sky touching strike rate has made the Indian middle order stronger than ever. Indian team has ticked all the right boxes, except finding a suitable opening pair and we expect to see India overcoming the problem in this T20I series.
Over the last six months, we have seen a lot of cricket being played on Indian turf and one thing is for sure, the quick outfield and presence of some ball thrashing hitter in both teams will result in a tough fight in all the three games of India vs England T20I Series 2017.
However, India has never won a T20I series series against England and the way the Virat Kohli led side is playing, the new skipper may add another achievement to his career by winning the last leg of the tour.
Meanwhile, England players have played some incredible innings lately and after playing so much cricket in India, they are going to come out hard this time. There was never an instance in the ODI series, where the game looked one sided and to prevent complete humiliation, Eoin Morgan is not going to leave any stone unturned.
Everything said and done, it will be raining runs and, adrenaline rush will reach new heights, you better watch out for some nail-biting moments.
Indian Squad: Lokesh Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli (captain), Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wk), Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Parvez Rasool, Amit Mishra, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
England’s Squad: Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan, Liam Dawson, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Tymal Mills, Jake Ball.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more updates. Don’t forget to like and share. Do tell us your views in the comment box below.
25th January 2017
Rohan Jaitly