Follow UsFollowing a thumping 50-run win in the first T20I at the Rose Bowl, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian side will be aiming to seal the series in Birmingham on Sunday, a clash for which they will have all the big guns back. That’s right, after being rested for the Ireland T20Is and the first game of the ongoing series, the second T20I will witness the return of Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
India, mind you, are unbeaten under the full-time leadership of Rohit Sharma, and will be aiming to hand back-to-back bilateral series defeats to England, who at the start of the year lost the five-match T20I series against West Indies. To get the ‘Jos era’ up and running, England, on Saturday, will have to do something that no team has managed to do in the past 8 months: beat a Rohit Sharma-led side in a limited-overs international.
Ground Details
Three days after hosting the epic one-off Test between India and England, Edbgaston will oversee the second game of the three-match T20I series. And it has to be said that the venue has been pretty good for batting of late.
In the 2022 Vitality Blast, the average first innings score at the venue has been 161. But 3 of the 8 matches at this venue have seen the team batting first post 180+ totals. The last T20s at Edgbaston, in fact, have seen the team batting first score 186 and 228 respectively. It is fair to say that we can expect a nice, batting-friendly wicket come Saturday.
Interestingly, this time around, Edgbaston has proved to be a bat-first venue. Of the 8 T20s played at the venue this year, 5 have been won by the team batting first. Each of the last two matches at the venue have also been won by the team batting first. The first T20I of this series was won by the team that batted first (India), so it really won’t be a big surprise if the toss-winning captain decides to bat come Saturday.
There is not much to read on the bowling front: both pacers and spinners have been equally effective. Pacers have taken a larger proportion of the wickets (nearly 62%) but spinners have been more economical (ER 8.1 compared to pacers’ ER 8.1).
Let’s just say that this is a wicket where good bowlers will thrive, notwithstanding what they bowl.
Suggested Team
Captain and vice-captain suggestions
Grand League: Suryakumar Yadav ©, Jos Buttler (vc)
Small League: Suryakumar Yadav ©, Jos Buttler (vc)
Stats that matter
* In 4 T20s against England, Suryakumar Yadav has averaged 42.66 and has struck at 191.04.
* In his T20I career, there have only been two games in which Harshal Patel has failed to pick a wicket. The right-armer has taken at least one wicket in each of his last 8 matches.
* Jasprit Bumrah has only played 3 T20Is against England, but in those matches has taken 5 wickets at an economy of 6.20.
* In T20Is in 2022, Moeen Ali is the highest wicket-taker for England with 7 wickets to his name. In the first T20I in Southampton, the off-spinner removed both the Indian openers.
Grand League punts
* Jos Buttler might have scored a golden duck in the first T20I, but in the form he’s been in the shortest format in the past 12 months, it is still a no-brainer to back the opener. A gamble worth taking would be either making Buttler the captain or vice-captain.
* Hardik Pandya has been on fire with the bat ever since his return to the T20I side, averaging 51.25 and striking at 157.69. Given he’s also always a genuine wicket-taking threat with the ball, too, he is a must-have in your fantasy XI.
* Bhuvneshwar Kumar has picked 8 wickets in his last 6 T20Is, going wicketless only once in this period. Given he is an x-factor with the new-ball in hand, Bhuvneshwar is another must-have in your fantasy XI.
Here are the Top 10 Criclytics projections
Probable XIs
India: Rohit Sharma ©, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Reece Topley, Matthew Parkinson