India looks to get supremacy in the shortest format with win over England

Last updated on March 25th, 2021 at 09:29 am

The T20 series against England begins this Friday. It will be a five match contest in Ahmedabad and this marks the ground setting for team India ahead of the T20 world cup at home. Five years ago, India lost in the semifinals in the same event, which too happened in India. 

How will the temperament of the Indian side be depends on how they play against the English players. Another factor responsible for the team’s confidence is the player selection and to be specific, it is to do with the one at number four. The player to play at number four will be most crucial during the whole process; the role to suit the position has been vacant for a long time even though the team management tries to bring up different players. 

There are a lot of questions lingering around the issue and concerns about the opening partnership are also going around. As for the player at number four is concerned, the team management is having trouble getting a fixed position for Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav, who has been an exception in last year’s Indian Premier League. 

They are also keeping Manish Pandey as their choice. It has been a complicated area for the team management to fix. The national selectors are concerned not only about the player at number four but for every spot that they can think of. The series against England will be a preparatory ground for the Indian side to fix their chores and come up with a possible team ahead of the world cup. 

The World Cup is scheduled for October and ahead of it is the IPL, which may also be a platform for the national selectors to complete their journey for suitable players. The debate around a wicket-keeper attacking batsman is here to last but before it the topic of openers has opened up. 

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With Rohit Sharam, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, the team can hope for a strong start, KL Rahul is a good bet especially after his IPL stint where he was the Orange Cap holder stacking up 650 runs from 14 games. Rohit Sharma has automatically made the cut and if Virat Kohli is to be followed then Shikhar Dhawan will likely be replaced by KL Rahul. “KL and Rohit have been consistently performing at the top. If either of them takes rest, Shikhar is the third opener. Rohit and Rahul will start.”

Then moving ahead with number three, we have the captain himself. The issue begins after Kohli’s exit. He has to choose between Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav. Both have had great IPL records. Iyer, in fact, Delhi Capitals, which was one of the finalists. “Guys who can be ‘x factors’ with the bat and do things are the need of the hour in T20 cricket. They have done so on a regular basis in the IPL so we have tried to cover all those bases. Now it will be interesting to see how they go about in these five games,”said Kohli while adding it will be interesting to see how they manage in the five matches against England. 

Hardik Pandya is an essential player in the team, Not only can he hit during tough situations but also come up with unpredictable deliveries when the team requires. But as for his selection in the team, nothing is confirmed. He was injured during the India-Australia series after which, he has failed to fully recover. The status of his injury is creating doubt around his possibilities to come back as the best finisher the team currently has. 

The Indian side also lacks spinners in terms of quantity. We have Yuzevender Chahal but it would be heavy on him to handle the lead as one and only spinner. Washington Sundar also is in the race but he comes with not much experience. As for R Ashwin, after he amazed everyone with bat as well as ball, he might have a chance of returning back to the white ball cricket.