New Delhi: Team India will take on England in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday, January 22. After the poor results in Test cricket, the Men in Blue will look to make a good start to their white-ball season.
The team is yet to lose a T20I series under Gautam Gambhir’s leadership, who faced heavy criticism after losing the home Test series against New Zealand and Australia. Team India also failed to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship.
India’s likely playing XI for first T20I
Sanju, Abhishek to open: Sanju Samson is expected to open the innings with Abhishek Sharma. The wicketkeeper batter is in sensational form in the T20Is and has scored three hundreds in his last five matches. The exclusion from Team India’s Champions Trophy squad will give him extra motivation to perform in the series. Abhishek Sharma has not performed to his full potential on the international stage but with the lack of opening options, he will get an extended run in the series. Tilak Varma is expected to bat at No.3 and Suryakumar Yadav will bat at No.4.
Mohammed Shami returns: Mohammed Shami is all set to make his comeback in international cricket after more than a year. He last featured for Team India during the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia and has been on the sidelines since then due to the injury. If Shami plays the opening T20I of the series, it would be his first game in the shortest format for India in over two years. His last T20I match was in November 2022.
Rinku Singh likely to be dropped: Hardik Pandya and Nitish Reddy are expected to play the first T20I while Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy and Washington Sundar are also expected to feature in the opening match at Eden Gardens to give more options with the bat and ball for Team India. Head coach Gautam Gambhir likes to play as many all-rounders as possible and Sundar is expected to play ahead of Rinku Singh. Batting at No.7 or 8 might be too low for Rinku, hence, the team might prefer an all-rounder ahead of the 27-year-old.
Probable XI: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Nitish Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mohammed Shami.
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