IND vs ENG, 2nd T20I – Fan2Play Fantasy Cricket Tips, Prediction and Playing XI
Match Details
It is the second game of the five-match T20I series and it will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 14th March, 2021. The match will commence at 7:00 PM IST and it will be telecasted on the Stars Sports and stream live on Hotstar.
Preview
It was a completely one-sided contest in the first T20I and India were handed a pummelling. England were absolutely spot on right from the first ball of the game and India were always playing catch-up. The Eoin Morgan-led were clinical and produced a brilliant all-round performance to go 1-0 up in this five-match series.
India’s batting let them down big time. There was a lot of talk around intent and playing freely. However, early wickets didn’t help India’s cause and they just couldn’t get going. Barring Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant to some extent, no other batsman looked comfortable and just couldn’t get going. India’s famed top three crumbled and it was only Iyer’s 67 that took them to 124. In fact, only three Indian players registered double figures in the first T20I. The bowling looked thin as well and lacked penetration and the England batsmen made merry.
On the other hand, England barely put a foot wrong. The pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood rattled the Indian batsmen while the other bowlers like Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes chipped in well. England had specific plans for almost every batsman and they executed it really well too. Except for Sam Curran, every bowler picked up at least one wicket but it was Archer who stood out with 3/23 from his four overs.
After restricting the hosts to a mere 124, it was more of a formality as the top four knocked off the run chase with ease. They had eight wickets in hand and 4.3 overs to spare. Thus, it was a proper thrashing that England handed India and the Eoin Morgan-led side were clinical with both bat and ball.
It may still be early days in this T20I series but India need to pull up their socks quickly as the hosts have less than 48 hours to bounce back from this loss. England are looking really strong. India have good depth as well and with these being the only few T20Is that they played before the T20 World Cup in October-November later this year, they will want to maximise this opportunity. Meanwhile, England continued their solid run in T20Is and they might start the next game as favourites.
Probable Playing XIs
India: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Captaincy Picks
KL Rahul
KL Rahul may not have fired in the first game and he scored just 1. However, he is a quality player and has been extremely consistent in T20 cricket for a few years now. The Karnataka batsman averages 42.86 and has a strike-rate of 144.48 while amassing 1543 runs in his T20I career. Hence, Rahul’s ability to go big at the top of the order and get big scores consistently makes him a top captaincy pick.
Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler looked slightly sedate in the first T20I and scored a 24-ball 28 in England’s chase of 125. However, he did complement Jason Roy really well and was rotating strike nicely too. He also struck a couple of excellent boundaries. The England wicket-keeper batsman is a destructive player at the top of the order and he can get the big runs as well.
Fan2Play Fantasy Cricket Tips
2-Player Team
Virat Kohli, Jofra Archer
3-Player Team
KL Rahul, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes
4-Player Team
Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow
11-Player Team
Jos Buttler, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Hardik Pandya, Jofra Archer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Chris Jordan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
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