Seeking redemption; In a must-win game, India aims to negate the toss factor in the 4th T20I against England

Seeking redemption; In a must-win game, India aims to negate the toss factor in the 4th T20I against England

FPJ News ServiceUpdated: Wednesday, March 17, 2021, 11:02 PM IST
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Rishabh Pant | PTI

Ahmedabad: Toss has also been the game planner at least in the ongoing T20 International between England and India, the world No one and two teams, respectively.

And with this five-series well in the visitors favour (2-1) lead, Virat Kohli will look for redemption, setting aside the toss factor, which has seen the batting second team winning in the last three outings.

And as these two teams take to the field on Thursday, in their fourth T20, the host have a task cut out, as they will have to win to keep the series alive.

Kohli has repeatedly stressed the need to do well whether they are posting totals or chasing as part of their preparation for the T20 World Cup at home later this year.

In the two games they lost after batting first, India struggled in the powerplay, which impacted their final total despite one batsman (Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli respectively) going on to make a significant contribution.

A lot of it was down to K L Rahul not being amongst the runs but Kohli made it amply clear that the Karnataka batsman and Rohit Sharma remain their preferred opening combination.

"If you look at his stats in the last 2-3 years, they are probably better than anyone in T20. He will continue to be one of our main batters along with Rohit at the top of the order. We don't have any concerns there," said Kohli.

The express pace of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer has also made life tough for the Indians in the first six overs. They have been able to extract disconcerting bounce from the surface, putting the batsmen in two minds.

Offie Washington Sundar has been the stand-out bowler for India with four wickets at an impressive economy rate of 6.95.

Despite India being 1-2 down, no major changes are expected in the playing eleven.

England, like India, also wants to win in all conditions and will be buoyed by their emphatic win in the previous game.

Buttler being amongst the runs is also a cause of worry for India as on his day he can demolish any attack in the world.

Jonny Bairstow, who had a horror run in the two Tests he played against India, came up with a morale-boosting 40 on Tuesday.

Now England are waiting for the world's number one batsman Dawid Malan to fire.

It will take a special effort from India to stop the number one ranked team from winning the series on Wednesday night. The hosts winning the toss should make their task less tough.

Squads

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Tewatia, Ishan Kishan.

England: Eoin Morgan (captain), Joss Buttler, Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Jonny Bairstow, Jofra Archer.

Live on Star Sports @18.30

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