India will hope for a bit of a respite when they play England at Manchester in the one-off T20I on August 31. The game begins 1800 hours local time.
A 0-4 Test series defeat coincided with the loss of India’s number one ranking but a break of over a week would have done them good. With three warm-up games and ample of time to look after their niggles and get into the best of shapes before the start of the limited overs format of the game on their England tour, one can expect India to put up a braver front in this T20I.
India did get going in the three warm-up games they played against Sussex, Kent and Leicestershire. They had managed to win all three of them, in turn, allowing the players to get back into a better frame of mind for this series. India go into the game at 11/10 (
Blue Square) to win their first international on tour.
Amongst the batsmen, Virat Kohli’s (6/1 at
Paddy Power) twin-70s would have helped his confidence. Despite being a part of the Test squad, he did not play a single international and the knocks would have fuelled his desire to get going in the T20I and the ODIs to follow. The other youngster, Rohit Sharma, who was also not a part of the Test squad, despite being the man of the series in the ODIs in the West Indies, acquitted himself rather well too, while Parthiv Patel was one of those under-rated batsmen who got going at the top of the innings.
It was good from India’s perspective that so many of them did get to spend some time in those warm-up games; especially given that the Indian top-order is more or less decided. With Sachin Tendulkar expected to miss out of the game after his retirement from the T20I format and Gautam Gambhir still feeling the wobbly side-effects of his head concussion, there isn’t much to choose from for the Indians.
India are left with seven batsmen who can be selected for this T20I, which leaves them with no room for manoeuvring. We could be looking at Rahul Dravid (9/2 at
Totesport) to be a part of the side as well, four years after he, like Tendulkar, had decided to quit the format of the game. Ajinkya Rahane may be in line for an international debut, but it is a format that he least prefers.
England (3/4 at
SportingBet to beat India) will see a different squad from the one that had played the Tests as well. For starters, the side will be led by Stuart Broad, who would be only in his second game as the captain. Joss Buttler, Ben Stokes and Alex Hales are three new recruits into this format for England and at least one of them will make his debut. Buttler was instrumental in guiding Somerset to a win in the FL T20 semi-final over Hampshire and the confidence with which he slammed the ball around the park could catapult him into international reckoning.
With Michael Lumb dropped from the squad, Craig Kieswetter (9/2 at
Paddy Power) will open the innings with a new partner and Hales could do that job. The rest of the side should be on predictable lines, with Kevin Pietersen (7/2 at
Blue Square), Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara in the middle-order, Buttler to round things off with the bat and all-rounder Samit Patel probably in the mix as well.
Interestingly, Pietersen has been rested for the ODIs under the guise of workload monitoring, but with not too much cricket to come after this game, it did come out as a surprise.
Graeme Swann and three pace bowlers could be used, although if the pitch assists the quicker men, Patel could be swapped for a fourth medium-pacer.
India and England have played each other twice in this format of the game and both have won a single game each. Wednesday’s game could see the deadlock been broken.
