After a controversial but interesting Test series, England continue their tour of India with five T20s, the first of which takes place on Friday as both sides continue their build up and preparation for the upcoming World T20 later in the year.
England were never really going to win the Test series in this part of the world but they will be expected to be much more competitive in this format of the game. India will be looking to win the World T20 that they host so they will still be a tough nut to crack.
India
India will be fuelled by the confidence of coming from behind to win the Test series but they were on pitches which suited them in those matches. They will be a bit flatter for these T20 matches so they will need to offer a much more balanced display if they are to draw first blood in the series. Traditionally this has been the weakest format for the Indians, which is a surprise given the success of the IPL, so they have a bit to prove here.
One of the reasons for that is India have lacked a finisher to their innings. They seem to load their side up with all-rounders but none of them step up with the cameos needed at the death overs. We should expect to see them try to find one of those over the course of this tournament. The other factor has been that there has always been a few overs with the ball that have been able to be targeted, again something they’ll look to rectify here.
England
As the 50 over champions, England will be determined to add the 20 over crown to their repertoire particularly when you consider what happened to them five years ago when they saw the title snatched away from them in the last over of the entire tournament. Eoin Morgan has said that England are not prioritising this format and we have to take him on his word but unlike in the Test series they have their strongest squad out for these matches.
England will take the same power packed approach which has worked so well for them in 50 over cricket into this format of the game. They are probably not as consistent in this format as they are 50 over cricket. Part of that is the unpredictable nature of this format but the other part is that England lack a depth of death bowlers and as a result matches can get away from them in the last five overs. That needs to improve if they are to win the World T20.
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Team News
India have picked a large squad for this series with the likes of Rahul Tewatia, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav newcomers who will be hoping to get some game time at some point, although the hosts are likely to go with their experienced players. Jasprit Bumrah has been given the series off.
England have only named 16 players for this series and interestingly there are only two spinners in it so both Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali are likely to play here. The England side picks itself with the exception of the middle order batting spot which Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings and Liam Livingstone will be fighting over. Jofra Archer is an injury doubt but the signs are he will be fit.
Betting
I think betting on this series will become a lot easier as it goes along. I say that because the pitches on this ground for the last two Test matches were completely spin orientated but there is the suspicion that they will be better for these T20 games. That is theory or a hunch though. We don’t know that for sure, but obviously we will after this game has been played so it should get a little easier from Sunday onwards.
I will take one bet though which is for over 12.5 sixes. I expect plenty of power batting in this series to tie in with the modern trend which sides are going to look to exploit at the World T20 later in the year. For all that the pitches were ordinary in the Test matches here there were still four and seven sixes so the boundaries aren’t that small. The regional T20 matches that were played here all had a healthy amount of sixes compared to the scores on show as well. There is plenty of power in these two sides and the dew will negate the bowlers enough to help the batting so I like the over here.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
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