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After the action-packed Test series, India and England are ready for a face-off in the five-match T20I series beginning from Friday (March 12) at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The hosts would be high on confidence after winning the recently-concluded Test leg by 3-1 and qualifying for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final.
On the other hand, the visitors would be looking for revenge as they are the number one side in the T20I rankings.
The upcoming fixtures would be a cracker of a series as both these teams have had great success in the shortest format in recent times. While England defeated Pakistan in the T20I series, India emerged victorious against Australia Down Under.
Pitch report:
The surface at Ahmedabad will offer assistance to batsmen, while spinners will also have their impact in the game. Since its an evening fixture, the dew will play its part and the captain winning the toss should look to bat first.
Head to Head record:
Matches played: 14 | India Won: 7 | England Won: 7 | Tied: 0 | No result: 0
Playing Combination:
India
Though Shikhar Dhawan has returned to the squad, but KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are most likely to open the innings in the first match. Rishabh Pant will don the gloves, while Hardik Pandya should come in as a finisher.
Left-arm medium-pacer T Natarajan is likely to miss out on the series due to a shoulder injury. Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Tewatia also have fitness issues and its expected they won’t be part of the final XI.
IND XI: Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar//Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
England
England’s attempt of rotation policy in the Test series was highly criticised by former cricketers and a few experts of the game. That means the English team will field a full-strength side for the limited-overs fixtures.
Eoin Morgan will captain the side with the likes of Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Dawid Malan in the final XI. Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer will lead the pace attack, with Ben Stokes coming as an all-rounder and Adil Rashid as the specialist spinner. There could be a toss-up between Jonny Bairstow and Sam Billings.
ENG XI: Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow/ Sam Billings, Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer.
