India vs England: Second T20I Preview and Playing XI
India: Indians are playing incredible cricket. They proved as much, with what was ultimately a comfortable win in the first match at Old Trafford. Following the win in the previous T20I. India has incredible batting depth, with Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni all performing. KL Rahul has hit a 36-ball 70 in the 143-run defeat of Ireland and followed that up with his unbeaten century, off 54 balls, against British men in the first match. Man of the match honor went to Kuldeep Yadav after his game-changing 5-24 with the ball. The wickets included tying the dangerous Alex Hales in knots before bowling him and having both Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root stumped of their first ball. Kuldeep has been the go-to-bower for India in recent times. He took 4-21 and 3-16 in the two matches against Ireland that preceded this series, while Umesh Yadav has also been in good form, following up his 2-19 against Ireland with 2-21 from four overs against England. If India’s bowlers continue to tie the middle-order down, they remain favorites.
Expected Playing XI: Virat Kohli (C), Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
England: British had been in poor T20I form after struggling in the Trans-Tasman T20 Tri-Series. They followed that up with a brilliant batting display against Australia in last month's only T20 - Jos Buttler's 30-ball 61 helping them to 221/5 before Australia were bowled out for 193. Jason Roy is in good form, following up his 44 against the Aussies with a breezy 30 at Old Trafford while Jos Buttler is in the best phase of his career, and is showing no signs of stopping. After his stunning IPL form lifted the Rajasthan Royals into the playoffs and earned him an England test recall, Buttler has scored two half-centuries in the test series against Aussies followed by three more in the one-dayers against Australia. His last two T20 innings, opening the batting, have seen him score 61 against Australia and 69 in the first match against India and will be the key man for English Team. With the ball, Adil Rashid picked up 3-27 against Australia and was economical again as he finished with 1-25 against India at Old Trafford. But except him, other bowlers haven't been able to perform, which might be an area of concern for skipper Eion Morgan.
Expected Playing XI: Eoin Morgan (C), Jason Roy, Liam Plunkett, Jos Buttler (WK), Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Moeen Ali and David Willey.