Star India batter Virat Kohli would be desperate to come out of his lean patch when he makes his T20I return after five months in the second game against England in Birmingham on Saturday, July 9. The former India skipper, who last played a T20 international in February, has featured in only two games since India's underwhelming campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup in October-November when he was still captain of the side.
The only T20 cricket he played since then was in the IPL but there too he was far from his best.
The senior players, including Rohit Sharma, have been getting frequent breaks as a part of the team's rest and rotate policy. This gave chances to Deepak Hooda, who has recently established himself as a will be difficult to drop on Saturday after the performances he has come up with.
Will Deepak Hooda continue his form?
Batting at Kohli's position, Hooda has made a big impact, especially in the series against Ireland, and also showed ominous form in the series opener against England, scoring a 17-ball 33. If India decides to keep Hooda in the team, then Kohli could open alongside skipper Rohit Sharma at the expense of Ishan Kishan.
The opening position is something Kohli is quite familiar and his last half-century in T20Is also came at the top. With Kohli expected to take another break for the five T20s against the West Indies, the two games against England assume more importance as far as his future in the T20 set-up is concerned.
The first game against England saw the return of Rohit after a Covid-induced break and the team put together a perfect game. The batters displayed the uninhibited approach that has become essential in the shortest format while the pacers exploited the conditions brilliantly.
Shedding the conservative style of play that let them down in the World Cup, Indian batters gave clear signs of their approach going forward. The powerplay fetched 66 runs and even after the fall of wickets, the intent was to go hard from ball one.
Senior players need to perform
Besides Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shreyas Iyer have also joined the T20I squad following a break after the fifth Test here.
It seemed India were a batter short in the series-opener though they ended up with 198. Jadeja is a like-for-like replacement for Axar Patel and his inclusion also makes the batting unit more solid.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been impressive with the new ball and Bumrah is expected to join him. Arshdeep Singh made a successful debut but since he is not part of the squad for the next two games, Umran Malik may get more chances. Hardik Pandya had a game to remember with both and ball and his presence is surely a big boost to the side in a World Cup year.
But, Rohit will also want to see a marked improvement in the team's fielding, especially catching after an ordinary show on Thursday.
England, who were blown away by the visitors at Southampton, will back themselves to make a strong comeback. They rely a lot on skipper Jos Buttler who will be keen to make amends after his first ball duck.
The power-packed batting including Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy failed in the first game but trust them to come good in a must-win game.
Squads
India
Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik.
England
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Richard Gleeson, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Matthew Parkinson, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley and David Willey.
