India vs England - Confident India To Continue With Their New Attacking Strategy

Virat Kohli walked the talk and came up with an inspiring performance in the second T20I against England in Ahmedabad guiding the home team to a comprehensive seven-wicket win. More than the result itself, the way and method adopted by India to achieve their goal is what would please the captain and the think-tank the most. Kohli had made it clear that despite the crushing loss in the series opener India would continue to take calculated risks and play with a degree of freedom and attack the England bowling right from the start of the innings.

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The Indian captain took a gamble in replacing the experienced Shikhar Dhawan with Ishan Kishan handing the latter an international debut in a big match against the toughest opposition in the format. But big risks mean big gain when they come off and that is what exactly happened in the second match of the series. The highest scorer for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020, Kishan, changed the match on its head with a counter-attacking 56 off just 32 deliveries and was involved in a match-winning partnership with his skipper. Kohli himself roared back to form with a responsible innings in which he showed glimpses of his batting genius.

With the series now tied at 1-1, the third match becomes hugely significant and both teams would be raring to outdo each other to take the lead.

India

India have a somewhat tricky choice to make. They have to get back Rohit Sharma at the top of the order but there is no way they can now leave out Kishan from the XI after his Player of the Match performance in the last match. This means that the home team may actually drop KL Rahul who has now had three failures with scores of 0, 1 and 0 in his last three T20I matches for India (at the SCG and against England in Ahmedabad). This could be a temporary move to let the batsman get some time off and come back afresh maybe later in the series. Rahul has been one of India’s most prolific scorers in the format and is also the run-machine in the IPL with the highest aggregate in the last three years of the coveted league.

It would also be interesting to see whether they continue to bat Rishabh Pant at number 4 or slot in Suryakumar Yadav at that position. Clearly the rationale behind sending the swashbuckling left-hander higher in the pecking order is to continue with the momentum and take advantage of the middle overs. Also, Pant is the ideal counter to Adil Rashid as he displayed in the last encounter. This is, of course, keeping in sync with India’s new strategy of being aggressive with the bat throughout the course of their 20 overs.

Shardul Thakur was very impressive at the death – not only did he pick two massive wickets but also did not let the English batsmen to get away and unleash their stroke-play. Bhuvneshwar Kumar showcased why he is one of India’s premier bowlers in the format. He got the wicket of Jos Buttler in the very first over of the match and was very economical, both in the powerplay and at the death. It was due to the combined efforts of Bhuvneshwar and Thakur at the death that England did not post a target close to 200.

India vs England: Kohli Walks The Talk As India’s New Aggressive Strategy Pays Off

Washington Sundar was brilliant in the middle overs and took over the role of the playmaker with the ball in that phase of play from Yuzvendra Chahal. Sundar gave India two big wickets in back to back overs changing the match on its head. He was also restrictive which is his quintessential quality in the format.

The only worry for India in the bowling unit is the lack of form of the ace leg break bowler, Chahal. He has been their most expensive bowler in the two matches so far and been tonked away by the English batsmen. There might be a case for him to be replaced by T20 specialist Deepak Chahar.

England

England have had a minor hiccup but won’t be too worried about that result. They have a settled combination with every individual aware of his strengths and role in the XI. Jason Roy has been their best batsman in the two matches. Jos Buttler has still not been at his destructive best and expect a big performance from him in the matches to come in the series.

England could muster just 81 runs in the second half of their innings in the last match – that is where they went astray and conceded the match to India. They were at least 25-35 runs short at the death and need a bigger finish from the likes of Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes.

Tom Curran was taken for a few in the last encounter and may be again replaced by Mark Wood who would bring with him that extra pace and zip into the attack. Ben Stokes has been taken for a few in the two matches and would need to alter his length and try a few variations to keep things in control.

WHEN: 16th March, 7 PM IST

WHERE: Ahmedabad, India

TELECAST: StarSports

LIVE STREAMING: Hotstar

India Team News

India will play Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will sit out in all likelihood. Deepak Chahar should come in for Yuzvendra Chahal.

Possible Playing XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rishabh Pant, 5. Suryakumar Yadav, 6. Shreyas Iyer, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Deepak Chahar

England Team News

England are likely to bring back Mark Wood and leave out Tom Curran.

Possible Playing XI: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler, 3. Dawid Malan, 4. Jonny Bairstow, 5. Ben Stokes, 6. Eoin Morgan, 7. Chris Jordan, 8. Sam Curran, 9. Mark Wood, 10. Adil Rashid, 11. Jofra Archer

Recent Head-to-Head: (Last 5 matches)

India lead the head to head 3-2 in the last five matches.

To watch out for

Rishabh Pant has shown glimpses of his destructive capabilities in the couple of matches in the series. He is due for a big score and with the series tied at 1-1 there could not be a more opportune moment.

Quotes

India: Credit goes to my seniors who told me to go and express myself. It’s not easy to come and play your first game against a quality side. Mumbai Indians helped me a lot and I want to continue the momentum: Ishan Kishan after his Player of the Match performance in the second T20I

England: India bowled well and there was less pace on the pitch. They put us on the back foot from the start. I am glad we played on this wicket, but little disappointed with the way we played: England captain Eoin Morgan after the loss in the second T20I

• India vs England
• Ishan Kishan
• jason roy
• mark wood
• Rishabh Pant
• Virat Kohli