India will begin their dress rehearsal for T20 World Cup 2021 with their first warm-up match against England at the ICC Academy Ground, Dubai. After the completion of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, Virat Kohli & Co. will look to get the team combination right before the Pakistan clash by testing the players against runner-ups of previous edition, Eoin Morgan-led England.
Before the deadline to submit squads to International Cricket Council (ICC), India just made one change by bringing in Shardul Thakur to the fold and demoting Axar Patel to the reserves. The warm-up match against England followed by another against Australia on October 20 will help the team management pick out players for specific roles against Pakistan on October 24.
Hardik’s fitness
Hardik Pandya has been the most-talked about player of late in India’s World Cup squad. There are concerns over his fitness which prevented him from bowling for Mumbai Indians in recently-concluded IPL 2021. Also, his numbers with the bat have not been impressive either with just 75 runs from five matches in second phase of IPL 2021. It will be interesting to see whether the skipper hands him the ball against England or he will be included in the team as designated finisher.
Opening almost sorted
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are highly likely to open the innings for India. At one point, Kohli said that he would not mind opening with Rohit but Rahul finished the IPL 2021 with 626 runs from 13 matches at an average of 62.60 and a strike rate of 138.80. The Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper hit six half-centuries as well and registered a whirlwind 98 in his team’s last league match. On the other hand, Rohit has not been consistent of late. The Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper showed glimpses of what he can do in his team’s final game. However, irrespective of how he has fared in IPL 2021, the veteran of six T20 World Cups should be an automatic choice for opener.
Who will be third spinner?
India have three spinners in their ranks including Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy. Chahar is not expected to be in the starting XI after a dismal show for MI resulting in him getting benched in their last few games. It will be a tough choice for India to decide whether they will go with two or three spinners in the game against Pakistan. Despite his fitness issues, the mystery spinner Chakravarthy can be the X-factor Kohli needs in the team. Jadeja will walk in as all-rounder and finisher based on his performances in CSK’s title-winning run. It will be interesting to see how Ashwin fits in the squad. The veteran off-spinner should be an automatic choice if Chakravarthy is not fully fit.
Morgan’s time to shine
The English skipper did a brilliant job as a captain for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as they played their first final after their title win in 2014. Morgan was far from impressive in the second leg of IPL 2021 and became a liability in KKR’s batting order. The southpaw managed just one double-digit score in the second leg and struggled against spin which will be something Kohli would like to exploit. It will be interesting to see the batting position of the skipper in the warm-up game. His overall batting numbers of the season were not promising either. The left-handed batter scored 133 runs from 17 games with an average of 11.08 and an abysmal strike rate of 95.68. On the other hand, the Englishman has a good record in T20 World Cup clashes with 484 runs from 23 matches including three half-centuries.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakaravarthy
England: Jos Buttler (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Sam Billings
