STATISTICAL PREVIEW
Follow UsThe English summer cricket festival continues. Just a day after the gargantuan chase in the rescheduled fifth Test, we are into the white-ball part of the series, starting with three T20Is. India are playing a T20I bilateral series in England after four years.
The first T20I is set to be played at Southampton, the second at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge to host the third. Here is a statistical preview for the T20I series:
England look to settle scores
Series results haven’t gone England’s way when playing against India, especially in the last three series. On their tour to India in 2017, they lost 1-2 in a three-match series, in 2018, when India toured England, the results were the same.
In the recent tour to India in 2021, the visitors took it to the deciding fifth T20I but lost the series eventually (2-3). India and England have played seven bilateral T20I series. The competition between the two has been even-steven. England and India have won three apiece and one ended in a draw in 2012. However, all three of England’s series wins have come when they have played a one-off T20 series. Whereas, India’s all three have come when it has been a multiple-match series.
England and India, high-scoring nations
England's team is filled with power hitters, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, and Liam Livingstone are a few to name. In T20Is since 2020, England have scored at a run rate of 8.8 in 34 innings. Among the Test playing nations, this is the highest. As for India, they aren’t far behind. India in this time frame, have scored runs at 8.78 runs per over, which is next to England.
In terms of boundary hitting, none are better than England. In the aforementioned time, England batters have hit a boundary every 5.4 balls, which is the best. India and West Indies are behind them with 5.6. This means one thing, we are in for some high-scoring encounters.
India’s woes while defending targets
In recent times, defending targets hasn’t been a strong suit for India in any format. The recently concluded fifth Test was an example of it.
In the shortest format of the game since 2020, India have won 13 out of their 14 matches while chasing. However, while defending, they have won 14 out of the 25 at a win/loss ratio of 1.75. In the recent T20I against Ireland, they almost lost the match while defending 226. Earlier in the South Africa series, they failed to defend a target of 212 in the first T20I, the highest target that they have failed to defend. Against a team that fancies chasing, India will be wary of their record while defending.
A pale year of 2022 for Rohit
The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed the Test match, will be available for the T20I series. However, his records this year haven’t been encouraging in the shortest format.
In T20Is, Rohit has scored 116 runs at an average of 19.3 in 2022. He has two scores between 40-49, one score of 19 and the remaining three have been single-digit scores. So far, this is the worst hit year (where he has played two-plus innings) for Rohit in T20Is.
It’s not only T20Is, even in the IPL, Rohit struggled for runs. In 14 innings, he had 268 runs to his name at an average of 19.1 without a 50+ score. For the first time in his IPL career, Rohit averaged less than 20 and didn’t have a 50+ score to his name. Overall, this is the first time in a T20 calendar year that Rohit has averaged below 25.
Only country in which India have more losses than win
England hasn’t been a happy hunting country for India. In fact, this is the only country in which India have suffered more losses than wins.
In 10 matches played in England, India have won four and lost six with a win/loss ratio of 0.666. After winning their first two matches in the 2009 T20 World Cup, India lost five consecutive matches on English soil. However, the last time they toured England, they won two out of their three matches.
The worst slog over bowlers vs the best slog over batters
England might be a destructive batting side, but their bowling in the last five overs has been a big worry for quite a while. In T20Is since 2020, England bowlers have conceded 10.6 runs per over. They are the only team to concede 10+ runs in this phase among the top 10 nations. In this phase, they have conceded a boundary every 4.7 balls, which is the worst.
On the other hand, in the aforementioned time, Indian batters have excelled in this phase. Their run rate of 11.1, their average of 29, balls/wicket ratio of 15.7 and their balls/boundary ratio of 4.1 are the best.
Few upcoming milestones
- If India manage to win the series, they will be the first team to achieve four bilateral T20I series wins against England.
- Rohit and Virat Kohli are tied with 30 scores of over 50, the most by a player. Either one of them has a chance to break the record.
- Kohli with 3296 runs, is just four runs behind Martin Guptill (3299) to become the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is.
