England take on India at Emirates Old Trafford on Tuesday night in the first of three T20 Internationals between the two countries. England thrashed Australia in the recent T20 and ODI series, but the Indians will pose a different threat, having won by 143 runs against Ireland in Malahide on Saturday.
England’s T20I record since reaching the final of the World T20 in India back in 2016 has been mixed, with 2018 proving a particularly poor year of Trevor Bayliss’ side. They won just one of their 4 T20Is in the Trans-Tasman series earlier this year, beating New Zealand by 2 runs in a dead-rubber match. However, they stormed back in home conditions earlier this summer to whitewash a weakened Australia team. One of those games featured a world-record total of 481 in 50 overs, while they also scored 221 in the only T20I. Jos Buttler has been in the form of his life this year and top-scored for England at the top of the order while partnering Jason Roy, who also has 2 white ball centuries this summer.
India had a successful warm-up series against Ireland, recording a score of 200 back-to-back for the first time in the format. Their 143-run win in the second T20I was undoubtedly the highlight, with KL Rahul and Suresh Raina top scoring with 70 and 69 respectively, before Hardik Pandya came in at the end of the innings and scored 32* off 9 balls. Their bowling was just as impressive, as they skittled the Irish for 70, but they’ll face a much tougher test against England on Tuesday and throughout the series.
England vs. India T20 Predictions
Jasprit Bumrah will be a big loss for India as he’s one of their leading bowlers, but expect lots of runs to be scored by both teams. India have so much experience on their side and if they bat second, then expect them to chase down what England set them.
England vs. India T20 Betting Tips
- Jos Buttler to be home team top batsman: 12/5
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar to be away team top bowler: 33/10
- Highest individual score over 65.5: 10/13
Head to Head
- England and India have played T20Is against each other. England winning 6, while India have won five.
- Only Bangladesh have recorded a lower run-rate in the death overs than England since 2016, with England recording an average of 8.62 in overs 16-20.
- Eoin Morgan has the highest death over strike rate of any batsman to have faced 200 balls at that stage (182.60), while Jos Buttler is seventh with 174.70
- England have the highest economy in the powerplay overs, while India have the lowest.
- Jos Buttler hit a joint-record of five consecutive 50s in the IPL earlier this year. He followed that up by blitzing England’s fastest T20I fifty from just 22 balls against Australia last week.
- MS Dhoni needs to affect two more stumpings to acquire the No. 1 position on the list of most stumpings in the history of T20I cricket.
- Suresh Raina needs to hit two more sixes to complete 300 sixes in the history of T20 cricket. He will become only the second Indian after Rohit Sharma to hit 300 or more sixes in T20 cricket.
- MS Dhoni needs three more sixes to complete 50 sixes in T20I cricket.
- Virat Kohli needs only 17 more runs to reach 2000 T20I runs.
- MS Dhoni needs to score 45 runs more to complete 1500 T20I runs.
- Rohit Sharma needs to score 51 more runs to achieve the feat of 2000 T20I runs. Whoever achieves it faster, Sharma or Kohli, will become only the third player in the history of T20I cricket to complete 2000 runs. In addition to that, they will also become the first Indian to do so.
England Team for T20 Series
Dawid Malan joined the squad late as injury cover for Tom Curran, who is suffering from a side strain. Jos Buttler is likely to open the batting with Jason Roy.
Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey
India Team for T20 Series
Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah have both been ruled out of the white ball series between England and India. Deepak Chahar and Krunel Pandya have both been called up as potential replacements.
Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav