India lock horns with England as Rohit Sharma-led India won the toss and opted to bat first in the first T20I of the three-match series at the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground, Southampton, on Thursday (July 7).
“We are gonna bat first. Looks like a good wicket. Good pitch, sun is out, better to bat first. Recovered pretty well, had a couple of hits before getting into this game. We know the scheduling, we got to have the understanding. We are making him (Arshdeep) play, the other guys will have their chance. Arshdeep has done well in the IPL, looks an exciting prospect,” India skipper Rohit Sharma said after winning the toss.
“Very proud day, captaining your country. Eoin has left the team in a great place The Test team has been fantastic to watch. Hopefully we can ride that momentum. Gleeson, Willey and Salt miss out We have a couple of all-rounders,” England captain Jos Buttler said before the match.
India have about 15 T20 games to play before the T20 World Cup in Australia in October, three against England in the current series, five against the West Indies (July 29-August 7), about 5 in Asia Cup (August-September) and three against Australia (September).
Ben Stokes and star of the fifth Test against India, Jonny Bairstow, have been rested from the series. However, there is enough firepower in the England batting to rattle the opposition.
Both Buttler and Liam Livingstone showed devastating form in the IPL and would be looking to build on that.
India vs England in T20’s (Head-to-Head)
Since the T20 format was developed in the 21st century, the first India versus England match was played in 2007. India and England have an equal number of victories and losses of 7-7 each. There is a tough level of competition between the two sides in this particular format.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w/c), Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Reece Topley, Matthew Parkinson.
