Current India-England Combined T20I XI
On Tuesday, India and England will lock horns in the first of the three T20Is to be played at Old Trafford in Manchester. The series marks the beginning of a long tour of the Old Blighty for the Men In Blue that will also see them play three ODIs and five Test matches, going all the way into September.
Both teams comprise of some of the finest T20 players in the game worthy of fitting into any playing XI and the likes of Jason Roy, Virat Kohli and others will look to make a match-winning impact in this series.
Here's the current combined T20 XI comprising of players from both sides:
NOTE: Only players who are fit and are in the squad for the T20I series between England and India have been considered.
Openers
Jason Roy
The hard-hitting English opener made his debut the last time India and England played a T20I on home turf and ever since then he has evolved into one of the most sought-after players in the format.
With a T20I strike-rate of 136, the right-hander can be banked upon to provide the starts which teams look for in the powerplay overs. England will hope for him to give them that in the upcoming series against India.
Rohit Sharma
Partnering Roy at the top will be the only Indian batsman with two T20I hundreds to his name. Rohit Sharma may be susceptible to the moving ball but on pitches with little or no lateral movement, few come close to being as destructive as him in white-ball cricket.
Rohit and Roy, in fact, have almost identical strike-rates(136.58 to 136.07 to that of Roy) and with the Englishman at the top of the order, the duo could form a lethal opening partnership that could lay the platform for the middle-order.
Rohit's experiences in limited-overs cricket in England have been forgettable as both in the 2011 tour as well as the 2014 tour he was forced to go home early after hurting his finger on both occasions.
The upcoming series could well be his chance to make amends for those missed opportunities.