Southampton: Experimentation will go out the window India Will get down to finalize our best eleven for World Cup during the three-match T20I series against England starting on Thursday.
Captain Rohit Sharma, who missed the fifth Test in Birmingham after contracting COVID-19, will travel to the port city on Wednesday and is expected to feature in the series-opener. Test players including Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant will join the T20 squad from the second game.
His absence will give fringe players like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson another game to make a statement – though they have fallen down the pecking order on India’s list of probables for the World Cup in Australia. A swallow meant Gaekwad could not open with Ishan Kishan in two matches in Ireland and if Rohit comes back, he will have to warm the bench once again. Kishan has done well in the opportunities he has and will look to cement his position in the team as a reserve opener by playing a good knock against the mighty England side.
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With Kohli expected to be back at number three from the second game, Deepak Hooda will be aiming for another match-winning effort to keep himself in the mix. With an unbeaten 47 and a century against Ireland, Hooda has certainly made it difficult for the team management to keep him out of the eleven. The uncapped pair of Rahul Tripathi and Arshdeep Singh have not been included for the second and third T20Is and are unlikely to play on Thursday. Suryakumar Yadav, who made a comeback from injury against Ireland, did not miss the games in Malahide and will back himself to get back to his innovative best. He and Hooda were among the run-scorers in practice against Derbyshire last week.
In the bowling department, pacer Umran Malik will be full of confidence after defending 17 runs in the final over of a high-scoring second T20I against Ireland. However, he is a work in progress and needs to improve his accuracy. The fast bowlers, including the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and shrewd Harshal Patel, were stunned by the Irish attack and will have to do their best against stiff opposition. Yuzvendra Chahal is expected to replace Ravi Bishnoi in the playing XI.
India have about 15 T20 matches to play ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia in October – three against England in the current series, five against the West Indies (July 29- August 7), and about 5 in the Asia Cup (August- 7). 7th). September), and three against Australia (September). The England series will mark the beginning of the process of identifying their best XI for the marquee event.
For England, the series marks the beginning of the Jos Buttler era after the retirement of Eoin Morgan. Ben Stokes and the star of the fifth Test against India Jonny Bairstow have been rested from the series. However, England’s batting has enough firepower to take the opposition to task. Buttler and Liam Livingstone both showed poor form in the IPL and would like to build on that. Squad: England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Harry Brooke, Sam Curran, Richard Gleason, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, David Malan, Tymal Mills, Matthew Parkinson, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, David Willey.
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
The match will start at 10.30 pm.
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