Southampton: England will take to the ground in the first T20 with the intention of finalizing their best XI for the World Cup during a three-match T20 series starting on Thursday. Captain Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out of the fifth Test in Birmingham after Corona tested positive, will arrive here on Wednesday and is expected to play in the first T20 starting at 10-30 pm Indian time. Players including Virat Kohli, Jaspreet Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, who were included in the squad for the Test against England, will join the team from the second T20.
In the absence of these star players, players like Rituraj Gaekwad and Sanju Samson will get one more chance to prove themselves and they will try to strengthen their claim for the T20 World Cup to be played in Australia. Gaikwad could not play in the two T20 series against Ireland due to a minor injury and now if Rohit plays the first T20, he may have to sit out once again. Ishant Kishan has impressed with the opportunity he has got and he will strengthen his claim as the team’s reserve opener by playing a good innings against a strong England team.
Kohli, who will be part of the team from the second match, is likely to bat at number three and in that case Deepak Hooda will try to prove his worth by playing one more match winning innings. Waiting for their debuts, Rahul Tripathi and Arshdeep Singh have not been included in the squad for the second and third T20s and are unlikely to get a chance in the first match.
India are scheduled to play 15 T20 matches before the T20 World Cup in Australia
The Indian team will play a three-match series against England from tomorrow and will begin the process of preparing their best XI for the T20 World Cup to be played in Australia. India will play a total of 15 T20 matches before this T20 World Cup. In addition to the three T20s against England, there will be five T20s against the West Indies from July 29 to August 7, as well as about five matches in the Asia Cup in August-September and three T20s against Australia in September.