England and India will face each other in the second T20 of the on-going series at Chennai on 25th January.
Match Preview:
It was a near perfect bowling performance by the team India in the first T20 of the series.The Indian spinners spun a web around England’s batter as apart from Jos Buttler none of the batters could play an impressive and impactful knock.
Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy were brilliant as the former took two wickets while the latter chipped in with three wickets as well.
“The plan will be the same [against the England batters] and will see how they’re going to approach me and it’s all instinctive. Initially you have certain plan for certain batters, but if they’re trying to do something different, it will be more instinctive, said Varun Chakravarthy
India can make easy changes in the lineup to test their bench strength or make a roam for the comeback of Mohammad Shami. The team showed near-perfect performance in all three departments which will allow the team to test and try new combinations, keeping 2026 T20 WC in mind.
Talking about England it will be interesting to see how the side will tackle spin in Chennai. A lot would be expected from the top-order batters like Ben Duckett and Harry Brook. Ben will be a key player since he plays spin very nicely.
Jofra was breathing fire as he took two wickets but one can’t blame English bowlers here as the batters did not put on a show for the bowlers to defend. It was only Jos the boss who belted Indian bowlers for fun, especially Hardik Pandya.
“He’s obviously very experienced in India. He’s done exceptionally well in the IPL and whenever he’s played for England here. So it’s really nice to watch him go out there and go about his business.” Harry Brook on his captain Jos Buttler
Playing XI:
India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Ravi Bishnoi/Mohammed Shami, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
England (probable): 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jos Buttler (capt), 4 Harry Brook, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jacob Bethell/Jamie Smith, 7 Jamie Overton, 8 Brydon Carse, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood
Pitch and weather report:
The second T20I in Chennai is expected to be played on a fresh, black-soil pitch, with dew likely to play a significant role. The humid evening conditions may give the chasing team an advantage, setting the stage for an exciting contest.
Head-to-head record:
Out of their 25 T20 encounters, India has emerged victorious 14 times, including their most recent meeting in the semifinals of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Guyana. England has secured wins in the remaining 11 matches.
Prediction:
Given India’s record in T20s, India is favourite to win the second encounter of the series.
Where to watch:
India: Disney-plus Hotstar
England: Sky Sports
Pakistan: Tapmad
Others: Cric HD
