Big picture: Teams in transition
Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum have many things in common. They were both stellar openers, they were both captain and coach of Kolkata Knight Riders at different times, they’re both known for their “aggressive” mindsets when it comes to approaching the game from the dugout, and, now, they both find themselves trying to shepherd two teams in transition.
India’s has been easier with three superstars calling time on their T20I career with T20 World Cup medals around their neck, and others fitting in rather smoothly with wins against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa. But England’s has been trickier, with one of the most exciting white-ball teams in world cricket struggling in both ICC tournaments since their T20 World Cup win in 2022.
That has meant McCullum enters the India T20I series as England’s white-ball coach for the first time, with ambition of the team maximising its unfulfilled potential. And for Gambhir, the aim is to show that the T20I team remains unaffected by their Test side’s poor results that has shaken the establishment.
Five delectable T20I batting surfaces await the two sides across the next fortnight, and the first salvo in Kolkata will give a glimpse of what to expect.
Form guide
India WWLWW (Last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
England LWWWW
Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami work together at the nets•PTI
In the spotlight: Bethell and Shami
Team news: Archer-Wood combine, but what of Bishnoi?
England captain Jos Buttler said he was especially pleased at having every first-choice T20I player available for this series. They have named their XI already, with Phil Salt taking the gloves, and Ben Duckett opening alongside him. Buttler himself will be at No. 3, with England also having the searing pace and fit bodies of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood to attack India. While Wood is the only one in the XI without a century in senior cricket, even he can crunch big shots, and that makes England one of the most dangerous batting outfits at the moment.
England: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jos Buttler (capt), 4 Harry Brook, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jacob Bethell, 7 Jamie Overton, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood
India have two major decisions to make: how many spinners to play, and how long their batting should look. Arshdeep Singh, Shami and Hardik Pandya should be be the seamers, while Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel could be the two spin options. That probably leaves India deciding between going for seam-bowling allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, spin-bowling allrounder Washington Sundar, or an outright wristspinner in Ravi Bishnoi. England are right-hander heavy and struggle against fingerspinners, two factors which could decide India’s eventual choice.
India (probable): 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Nitish Kumar Reddy/Washington Sundar/Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.
Brendon McCullum and Jos Buttler oversee England’s training session•Getty Images
Pitch and conditions: Dew and runs expected aplenty
Kolkata is going to offer a hard deck with true bounce. The boundaries are small, and the ball in January will get wet very quickly. That means Eden Gardens should be a paradise for batting. Suryakumar and Buttler both said that the conditions will be the same irrespective of the toss result, so expect a belter with dew around.
Stats and trivia: Arshdeep closes in on Chahal
Quotes
“It’s a really exciting tour coming to India with what I’d say is a full line-up for us. Sometimes there’s so much cricket that certain players have to be rested or managed. But that’s certainly not the case for us at all in in this series.”
Jos Buttler believes England have all bases covered
“Eden Gardens is a special feeling, because this is where I played when I started playing regularly.”
Suryakumar Yadav wants to make the most of the occasion on Wednesday
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
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