Facing the prospect of a series defeat at home for the first time in 15 months, skipper Virat Kohli will have a relook at his team combination as hosts India take on a resurgent England in a do-or-die second T20 International
India skipper Virat Kohli walks back after training for the second T20 against England in Nagpur on Saturday. Pic/AFP
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Nagpur: Facing the prospect of a series defeat at home for the first time in 15 months, skipper Virat Kohli will have a relook at his team combination as hosts India take on a resurgent England in a do-or-die second T20 International, here today. The last time India lost a series (2-3) was against South Africa in October 2015. After receiving a sound thrashing in the first T20 in Kanpur, the hosts’ first aim will be to keep the series alive.
Kohli, unbeaten as captain (series wise) at home in all forms, will need to go back to the drawing board as he tries to figure out his best playing XI at a venue where the Men in Blue have lost both their previous T20 encounters.
The defeat to New Zealand in the league phase of the World T20 Championship under Dhoni at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Jamtha, will still be fresh in the Indians’ mind. On that occasion the famed Indian batting had come a cropper against the Kiwi spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.
At Kanpur, it was the pace attack of England, with the visitors’ bowlers keeping the length short, that undid the strong India batting line-up boasting of Kohli, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, all proven match-winners on their own. Yuvraj’s position in the T20 set-up, Manish Pandey’s batting slot at No. 6 and KL Rahul’s indifferent form in limited overs, will certainly be taken into consideration when captain Kohli and Anil Kumble sit down to finalise the playing XI.
England batsmen displayed some vulnerability against the leg-spin of Yuzvendra Chahal, but he and other bowlers need some significant total to defend if India bat first again. The hom0e team also have the option of making a few changes and one of them is exciting young talent Rishab Pant, who caught the eye with his clean hitting in the 50-over warm-up game against the visitors at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
The Indian total of 147 in the first match, in which Dhoni top-scored with 36, was well below par and they would be eager to correct the aberration against an English batting line-up that’s not only strong but has depth too. Skipper Eoin Morgan has been in good form from the start of the limited overs series as his sequence of scores 28, 102, 43 and 51 will suggest. The first three were during the ODI series.
Morgan was particularly severe on the spinners, who were carted around for sixes with nonchalance by the Ireland-born left-hander during his blazing knock of 51 in Kanpur. The visitors have lot of muscle power in the top five or six batsmen and the need of the hour for India will be to blow away the top-order quickly.
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