Match: India v England, 1st T20I
Date: 26 January, Thursday
Time: 7pm SGT/4:30pm IST/11am GMT
Venue: Green Park, Kanpur
TV Channel: Star Cricket will provide live TV coverage in Singapore.
Live streaming: Hotstar
Overview
After successfully winning the Test and the One Day International series against England in the ongoing home tour, India will host the visitors in the first of the three-match Twenty20 International series in Kanpur on Thursday.
It will be Virat Kohli's first assignment as captain of Indian Twenty20 side and he is up for a sterner challenge than the ones he faced in the longer formats of the game. While England have almost the same squad they had for the ODIs, they are a far more stronger unit when it comes to the shortest format of the game.
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In-form Jason Roy, Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes, who are powerful strikers of the ball, are key to England's chances. The skipper would want more from their go-to-man Jos Buttler, who managed only 54 runs in the ODI series.
Meanwhile, the bowling unit will be boosted by the return of Chris Jordan, who is known for his effectiveness in death overs. With the absence of David Willey, the visitors are most likely to play 24-year-old pacer Tymal Mills, who is capable of consistently clocking 150kph.
On the other hand, India will be looking to sort out their batting combination as their regular T20I openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are not available for the upcoming series. Kohli has hinted he might open with Lokesh Rahul to give Suresh Raina a chance to bat at number three ahead of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. However, with a good mix of experience and youth, the batting unit looks settled for the hosts.
Veteran Ashish Nehra will lead the pace attack and Bhuvneshwar Kumar is likely to get the nod ahead of Jasprit Bumrah as the second pacer. Wrist-spinner Amit Mishra can cause enough trouble to the England batting unit and he is likely to get support from part-timers Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh.
TV Schedule
Singapore: Star Cricket
Malaysia: Astro Cricket
India: Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3
South Africa: Supersport 2
UK: Sky Sports 2
US: Willow TV
Middle East: OSN Sports Cricket
Team News
India
Possible XI: Kohli (c), Rahul, Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni (wk), Pandey, Hardik, Mishra, Nehra, Bhuvneshwar, Rasool
England
Possible XI: Morgan (c), Roy, Billings, Root, Buttler, Stokes, Ali, Plunkett, Jordan, Mills, Ball
