The Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team takes on a new-look England in a five-match T20I series starting from Friday, March 12, at Ahmedabad’s Motera Stadium. Both India and England have a series of changes in their team personnel, with the host in line to hand debuts to a few uncapped players. England, on the other hand, will welcome their limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan amongst others.
India and England have faced each other 14 times in the shortest format, and both teams have won seven games each, meaning that there’s nothing to separate them as far as their head-to-head count is concerned.
| India vs England T20Is head-to-head | ||
| India | Metrics | England |
| 14 | Matches | 14 |
| 7 | Won | 7 |
| 50% | Win % | 50% |
There are a few little snippets to determine the favorites, though India’s recent record against England, which sees them winning four of their last five meetings against the Three Lions in T20Is.
While it remains to be seen how the new surface of the Motera Stadium will react, the toss will be as essential as anything. Both teams have won three of their last five coin tosses in T20I, putting the prediction in further jeopardy. Meanwhile, India’s home record and England’s away record compliments each other to perfection. While India are unbeaten in four of their last five bi-lateral home series (drawing one), England are on a similar trajectory.
| India vs England top scorer (last five T20Is) | |||||||
| Player | Matches | Runs | HS | Average | Strike Rate | 100 | 50 |
| Dawid Malan | 5 | 236 | 99* | 59 | 150.31 | 0 | 2 |
| Jos Buttler | 4 | 173 | 77* | 86.5 | 142.97 | 0 | 2 |
| KL Rahul | 5 | 165 | 51 | 33 | 134.14 | 0 | 1 |
| Jonny Bairstow | 5 | 153 | 86* | 51 | 139.09 | 0 | 2 |
| Virat Kohli | 4 | 145 | 85 | 36.25 | 140.77 | 0 | 1 |
As far as individual performances are concerned, England are on an entirely different dimension. Dawid Malan, the world’s no. 1 T20I batsman, is coming on the back of scoring 236 runs in his last five T20Is at an average of 59. India’s top scorer in the same time frame is KL Rahul, who has scored 165 runs in his last five T20Is, at an average of 33.
This game in Ahmedabad is expected to be a boundary fest, and England will certainly rejoice at the opportunity given that they have hit an average of 15.4 fours and six sixes in their last five T20Is. On the other hand, India have hit an average of 11.8 fours and 6.2 sixes in a similar time.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Ian Kington
