Problem Of Plenty For India as They Face England To Save Series In Nagpur

India, who outplayed England in Tests and One Day Internationals, face the prospect of a series defeat at home for the first time in 15 months as the hosts take on England in the second Twenty20 of the series in Nagpur on Sunday. Skipper Virat Kohli will have to relook at his team combination as resurgent England earned a comprehensive victory against India in the first T20I on Thursday. The last time that India lost a series was 2-3 against South Africa in October 2015.

Kohli, unbeaten as captain (series wise) at home in all forms, will need to go back to the drawing board as he tries to figure out his best playing XI at a venue where the 'Men in Blue' have lost both their previous encounters.

In the absence of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli came out to open the batting with KL Rahul to strengthen the middle order. Rahul looks suspect in the limited overs cricket and his bad form is a cause of concern for the skipper.

The Indian total of 147 in first match, in which Dhoni top-scored with 36, was well below the par score and they would be eager to correct the aberration against an English batting line-up that's not only strong but has depth too.

In the bowling department too the hosts are not performing up to the mark, Jasprit Bumrah has not been able to pitch his yorkers perfectly--something that has been his USP since he made his international debut.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was another player, who warmed the reserves bench in Kanpur and could be looked upon by the team management to be drafted into the XI in place of Bumrah, who was taken apart in one over in the previous game.

Veteran Ashish Nehra has just made a comeback to competitive cricket post surgery with just one warm-up game under his belt. He did look rusty as he went for 31 runs in three wicketless overs. Out of his 18 balls, only five were dot balls.

At Kanpur, it was the pace attack of England, with the visitors' bowlers keeping the length short, that undid the strong India batting line-up boasting of Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, all proven match-winners on their own.

Skipper Eoin Morgan has been in good form from the start of the limited overs series as his sequence of scores 28, 102, 43 and 51 will suggest. The first three were during the ODI series.

Especially, the spinners, who were carted around for sixes with nonchalance by the Ireland-born left-hander during his blazing knock of 51 in Kanpur.

The visitors have lot of muscle power in the top five or six batsmen and the need of the hour for India will be to blow away the top-order quickly.

England batsmen displayed some vulnerability against the leg spin of Yuzvendra Chahal, but he and other bowlers need some significant total to defend if India bat first again.

India have lost both the T20 encounters at Jamtha, Nagpur which can be a worry for Virat Kohli and company. The defeat to New Zealand in the league phase of the World T20 Championship under Dhoni at the VDCA stadium in Jamtha, will still be fresh in the Indians' mind and on that occasion the famed batting had come a cropper against the spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.

The game would be the 11th to be hosted at this venue, since the first one between India and Sri Lanka in 2009, and the tenth in a space of 10 months as nine matches were played last March as part of the World T20 Championship hosted by India.

The game is set to start at 7 pm, as against the 4:30 pm start at Kanpur in the first T20I, and the dew factor is expected to come into the picture, albeit on a much smaller scale, according to VCA sources.

There will be some dew but may not be to the extent of what's found in North Indian states during this time of the year.

Teams

India: Virat Kohli (capt.), K L Rahul, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Parvez Rasool, Ashish Nehra, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mandeep Singh, Rishab Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Amit Mishra.

England: Eoin Morgan (captain), Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills, Jonathan Bairstow, Jake Ball, Liam Dawson and David Willey.

Match begins at 7 pm.

(With inputs from PTI)