The State of Play
India will look to bounce back from their disappointing tour of Australia when they host England in the first of five T20 internationals on Wednesday.
India were beaten 3-1 Down Under over Christmas and the New Year, following on from a stunning 3-0 reverse at the hands of New Zealand.
But while their form in the longest format has been uncharacteristically poor, they have continued to win matches with the white ball.
They beat South Africa 3-1 in a four-match T20I series in November and Bangladesh 3-0 prior to that.
India are the world champions in the 20-over game and will present a formidable challenge for England with three one-day internationals to follow as part of the build-up to the ICC Champions Trophy which gets under way in February.
📍 Kolkata
Gearing 🆙 for the #INDvENG T20I series opener 😎#TeamIndia | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/ocvsS4Y4R3
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 20, 2025
A key part of their armoury is the ability to rotate the batting order depending on the match situation, a point emphasised by vice-captain Axar Patel.
Axar said: “Batting wise, it’s not just with me, but we spoke in 2023-24 itself that the openers are fixed, but everyone from Nos. 3 to 7 have been told that they can come into bat anytime, in any situation. It is not just that one batter will bat at a particular position.
”Our middle order will come to bat depending on the match situation, what kind of bowlers are bowling at the time, which match-up works well.
“We’ve spoken about that, how we can all be floaters, be it coming in early or obviously finishing. This is not just for me, but for everyone from No. 3 and below, especially if they are in good touch in the nets. We will adjust accordingly. In T20Is, how you use your batters is so crucial, so this is an important factor in batting.”
This series ushers in a new era for England with Test coach Brendon McCullum now overseeing the white ball teams as well.
England have lost both T20 and ODI World Cup titles over the past 18 months but the New Zealander was in typically bullish mood when asked to assess his team’s chances on the sub continent.
He said: ”It’s about trying to get the best out of the talent that sits within the dressing room, trying to gel the guys as best we can, trying to work out complementary skills, and how we how we play the style of cricket that gives us our greatest chance.
“I’m desperate for us to play a really watchable brand of cricket. With the talent we have, there’s no reason why we can’t. We’ve got a batting line-up which is as powerful as any batting line-up in the world.
“We’ve got gun spinners, very good fielders and guys who bowl absolute rockets with the ball, so you’ve got options there to be able to entertain and give yourself the greatest chance of success.”
Injury News
India can call on returning paceman Mohammed Shami after an injury-plagued 14 months. He will replace Jasprit Bumrah, who suffered a stress-related injury against Australia.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant have been rested.
England captain Jos Buttler will hand the gloves over to Phil Salt to enable him to focus on leading the side. The tourists have an impressive battery of fast bowlers, led by Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.
Arrival in India ✅
Celebrating turning 27 🎂
Happy birthday Gus 🥳 pic.twitter.com/4aGNwIlXfT
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 19, 2025
Expected line-ups
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy
England (confirmed): Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
How to Watch
In the UK, you can watch this series on TNT Sports and Discovery+. The first T20I is being screened on TNT Sports 1 from 1pm.
In India, it can be viewed on the Disney Plus Hotstar app and website.
Prediction
England’s results in T20s have remained largely good despite the disappointment of the World Cup in the USA and Caribbean last year.
And with India lacking some of their gun players, the tourists will fancy their chances of getting off to a winning start in Kolkata.
We think England will edge a high-scoring encounter.
