Hardly has the euphoria surrounding England’s historic chase of 378 to win the rescheduled fifth Test against India to draw the series 2-2 had time to dwindle and the two teams are meeting in a T20I series a two-and-a-half-hour train ride southwards of Birmingham.
Okay, well, these aren’t the same teams technically due to the change of format, but for fans on either side the resonance will be the same.
India, ranked No 1 in T20Is, versus second-placed England meeting just 48 hours after the most stunning Test result of 2022. The summer of fun continues. Buckle up.
England were at their ‘Bazball’ best during the Edbgaston Test, pulling off their record-highest run chase, and after the win Ben Stokes credited his early success as skipper – four Tests, four wins – to the “ethos and mentality” that former limited-overs captain Ben Stokes brought to the setup. How Jos Buttler, the man appointed after Morgan’s recent retirement, takes this England white-ball team forward remains to be seen, but you get the sense that his predecessor’s template will be carried forward.
Buttler has not played a T20I for his country since the 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final last November, but this is not an indication of his form. Buttler was the highest run-getter in this year’s IPL and recently pummeled scores of 162* off 70 balls and 86* off 64 in two ODIs versus Netherlands followed by a 29-ball 42 opening the innings for Lancashire in the T20 Blast last week. England know how to win T20Is, and even if some big names are absent from their current squad they are the favourites.
From now until November, the Indian cricket team plays mostly ODIs and T20Is given the looming T20 World Cup in November. A depleted team beat Ireland 2-0 last week and then won their two T20 tour games over Derby and Northamptonshire to enter the three-match series with England purring. The other good news for India is that Rohit Sharma has linked up with the T20I squad after missing the fifth Test match due to Covid, so they will have one of their two first-choice openers back.
Add in Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik and you have a batting lineup bristling with experience and flair. The challenge is for India’s somewhat suspect bowling ensemble to curb the enthusiasm of England’s gung-ho batsmen.
With three games in four days, expect both India and England to rotate their bowlers.
TEAM NEWS
If Buttler opens, his Lancashire opening partner Phil Salt, who in is enjoying a rich vein of form, would have to slot down into the middle order where he batted in the West Indies. The rest of the batsmen pick themselves, as does the Matt Parkinson as the specialist spinner in the absence of Adil Rashid. The tricky bit is deciphering what the pace-bowling makeup will look like given that England have picked four left-arm seam options in Sam Curran, David Willey, Tymall Mills and Reece Topley.
Curran and Willey should play based on their all-round skills and Chris Jordan is a shoo-in. But a third left-armer in either of Mills or Topley? This could mean a debut for Richard Gleeson, the 34-year-old Lancashire pacer.
England likely XI: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 3 Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Phil Salt, 7 Sam Curran, 8 David Willey, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Matt Parkinson,
11 Richard Gleeson
Ishan Kishan will get the nod to open with Rohit, which means Deepak Hooda at No 3 – Virat Kohli joins the squad for the second and third matches – and Sanju Samson the one to make way.
India will likely repeat the two-spinner method which they employed in Ireland and the two tour games, which leaves Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and mostly Avesh Khan to bowl pace with Hardik Pandya the fourth option.
India likely XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Avesh Khan
PITCH & CONDITIONS
The Rose Bowl in Southampton has not hosted a T20I since June 2021, but recent domestic T20s played here indicate that batsmen and bowlers are in the mix for success. In seven Vitality Blast matches at the ground this season, nine times have teams crossed 150 and three times a side has been bowled out. On each of these three occasions, the totals were 125, 123 and 123.
In nine T20Is at the venue, England have won six but the better barometer to assess is the fact that the team batting first has won five and the team chasing four times. There are runs to be scored here, as indicated by Australia’s score of 248 of which Aaron Finch slammed 156. The average score in T20Is at The Rose Bowl is 168.
The forecast is for partly cloudy skies with no threat of rain.
PREDICTION
England for the win, given their white-ball form and the presence of Buttler, Jason Roy, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone.
