PRE MATCH ANALYSIS
Follow UsIndia and England couldn't have asked for a better bilateral series to prepare themselves for the upcoming T20 World Cup later this year. The first three Twenty20 Internationals of the five-match series turned out to be one-sided affairs but the fourth one on Thursday (March 18) proved to be a humdinger of a clash. The young guns once again fired for India as they managed to prevail by just eight runs and levelled the series 2-2. The stage is now set for a winner-takes-all finale in Ahmedabad on Saturday (March 19).
India and England have put each other out of their comfort zone and that's exactly what both teams would have wanted ahead of the series. India have a couple of problems but the team management would be delighted with the way Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav have announced their arrival in international cricket. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya have looked impressive after returning from their respective injuries and this would help India in the long run. Meanwhile, England have got a more settled unit, but they have got their own set of problems.
INDIA'S TEAM COMBINATION
The emergence of Kishan and Suryakumar at the top-order have now put pressure on senior pros like KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The Mumbai Indians duo were handed debuts in the second T20I. While Suryakumar didn't get a chance to bat, Kishan whacked 56 off just 32 deliveries to lay a solid platform for India's successful run-chase. The former finally got a chance to showcase his skills in international cricket and the stylish right-hander lit up the empty stadium with his exquisite strokeplay, crafting a 31-ball 57.
The two are very versatile and could bat anywhere in the batting order. Meanwhile, Rahul, Rohit and Dhawan are yet to fire in this series. Rahul had been superb for India in this format but the opener from Karnataka has looked way off colour in this series. Dhawan has played just one game, while Rohit has struggled to get going after being rested for the first two T20Is. The three are proven match-winners but if Kishan and Suryakumar could keep batting the way they have, it would be difficult for the team management to leave them out of the playing XI.
However, the battle was always going to be between Suryakumar and Shreyas Iyer and the latter was under a lot of pressure in the series. Iyer however has managed to stamp his authority with dominating knocks of 67 and 37 in the first and fourth encounter respectively. India have been going with just five bowing options in this series but that won't be the case once Ravindra Jadeja makes his comeback from injury. Once the all-rounder makes his return, one of the frontline batsmen will have to miss out and at this point in time it could literally be anyone, barring skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit.
The Indian team management would be overjoyed with the progress Pandya has made as a bowler. The all-rounder is constantly giving them four quality overs, and was hands down the best bowler in the fourth T20I. Pandya was outstanding with his change-ups and took 2/16 to help India defend a total despite the ground being covered with a lot of dew. Bhuvneshwar too is looking good, while Shardul Thakur is bowling those tough overs in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. You also have Navdeep Saini, T Natarajan and Deepak Chahar waiting in the wings and it would be interesting to see if India persist with the same XI for the decider.
In the spin department, Washington Sundar had a rare bad day, while Yuzvendra Chahal was left out of the playing XI on Thursday. The senior legspinner, who has been pretty mediocre in T20Is since 2019, was replaced by Rahul Chahar and the 21-year-old picked up two crucial wickets despite bowling with a wet ball. Axar Patel and Rahul Tewatia are part of the squad, while Varun Chakravarthy, R Ashwin and Shreyas Gopal too could come back into the mix if they have a solid IPL season.
India have certainly got all the weapons in their arsenal and will have to pick and choose the ones they want to use in the battle.
A COUPLE OF WORRYING SIGNS FOR ENGLAND?
Eoin Morgan is a type of captain who likes to back his players. He did that with Jason Roy who didn't have a great last year but the opener has managed to turn things around and has been England's best batsman in this series. The likes of Roy, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Sam Curran have been pretty decent so far in the ongoing series but the same can't be said about Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan.
The top-ranked T20I batsman, Malan has been England's best batsman in this format ever since making his debut, but hasn't been able to get going in India. The left-hander likes to take his time to settle in before exploding in the second half of the innings. Malan has done the first part in all four innings against India but hasn't been able to cash in. He has scored 80 runs in this series but has faced 77 deliveries for that. England like to make the most of the batting powerplay but Malan has chewed up quite a few deliveries during the first six overs.
Malan has clearly struggled against spinners in his short career and these conditions have made his life much worse. He will get plenty more opportunities and even benefit from his upcoming stint with Punjab Kings, but with the likes of Alex Hales, Joe Root and Liam Livingstone waiting in the wings, Malan will have to pull his socks up quickly. Meanwhile, Jordan too hasn't been at his best since 2020, having picked up 16 wickets in 15 T20Is at an economy of 9.3 and a strike rate of 20.8. Jordan has also been very expensive at death and hasn't been able to support Archer of late. The right-arm seamer is England's leading T20I wicket-taker but Morgan and Co. would want him to be more consistent.
PROBABLE XIs
INDIA: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul/Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar.
ENGLAND: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan/Sam Billings, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan/Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
