Fans must get ready to witness some mind-boggling cricket action as India and England are set to lock horns in a five-match T20I series. The series gets underway on Friday (March 12), with all games to take place at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. Although Virat Kohli and Co would be high on confidence after winning the Test series 3-1, T20 is an entirely different format. Moreover, the Eoin Morgan-led side is a top-ranked T20I team in the world. Hence, the hosts must be at the top of their A-game to get the favourable result. England Likely Playing XI for 1st T20I vs India: Probable England Cricket Team Line-Up for Series Opener.

With the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 slated to take place later this year in India, the upcoming series holds even greater significance. Both teams would aim to overcome their shortcomings and identify their best playing XI. Notably, England have named a full-strength squad for this series, whereas Team India would miss the services of their pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who pulled out of the fixture, citing personal reasons. It would indeed be an exciting series as the Three Lions are undefeated since their last eight T20I series while India have the home advantage. As the opening game takes a countdown, let’s predict the result of the series. India Likely Playing XI for 1st T20I vs England: Probable Indian Cricket Team Line-Up for Series Opener. 

Prediction: India 3-2 England

T20 is indeed a highly uncertain format as momentum rides on a seesaw.  The game could change entirely within a span of a few balls. Hence, any team can’t afford to be complacent at any stage. Adding the spice, the upcoming series will be played between two of the best T20I teams. With Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler in the ranks, the visiting team has a destructive batting order. At the same time, proven T20 stars like Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid will handle the onus in the bowling department.

On the other hand, the home team has services of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who are no alien to the T20 grind. However, the bowling line-up looks slightly weak in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. Nevertheless, the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are very well able to impact England’s batsmen.

If this series had taken place on different venues, England would have been favourites, especially with Bumrah not featuring in the series. However, all five games will be played at the same Ahmedabad track where Indian spinners tormented English batsmen. The pitch would be dry and tired, and Indian spinners Axar Patel, Chahal and Washington Sundar would be licking their lips. Hence, Team India are tad favourites to win the series 3-2.

India squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vice-capt), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur.

England Squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 10, 2021 02:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).