England vs India: India's predicted XI against England in the first T20I
The Indian team had some really good practice against minnows, Ireland before a long and difficult series against England at their own backyard. India were clinical against a toothless Ireland and dominated them in all aspects of the game. Other than Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, all the batsmen were among the runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the only one who ended the series wicketless but one can expect him to deliver the goods against England.
The series between India and England will have a lot of contests inside the actual contest. On one side, England's lethal opening combination comprising of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler will look to swat aside the Indian bowlers and on the other side, we have the most consistent opening combo of the present world in Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The series will also witness 2 of the Fab Four, Joe Root and Virat Kohli going head-to-head.
Here we look at India's likely playing XI against England.
Openers- Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan
Rohit Sharma is one of the best and most destructive batsmen in the present world. He has the ability to take the game away from the opposition at any given time. The Hitman has scored 2 centuries in T20I cricket and narrowly missed out on a century against Ireland in the first match.
He has a fantastic record in T20Is as he has scored 1949 runs in 74 innings at an average of 36. All his runs have come at a great strike rate of 130. He will look to demolish the English attack on what could be a batting beauty.
Shikhar Dhawan isn't the same batsman as Rohit Sharma but he will come into the match with a rich vein of form. He has had a bumper year having scored runs against South Africa, in the Nidahas Trophy and in the IPL. He also scored a fifty against Ireland just before heading to England and that would have boosted his confidence.
He has scored 958 runs in 37 matches at an average of 28.17 in T20I's and those runs have come at a very good strike rate of 131. He can destroy the game for any opposition if he can stay at the crease for about 9-10 overs.
The way they bat in the first few overs could make or break the game for India. Both these batsmen, along with Virat Kohli will be key to India's chances of winning the first match of a long tour comprising of 11 matches.