Will England have an answer to India's spinners in Rajkot? – T20 IPL 2024

Big Picture: Fearless India meet wobbly England

Fifteen wins and two losses in 17 T20Is since winning the T20 World Cup last June has made India almost impenetrable in the format. This despite having to mix and match their players, owing to the cramped cricket calendar. It’s scary to imagine what they can achieve if Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav are back in the mix.

Under Suryakumar Yadav, there’s a settled look to the squad that it’s hard to see how Yashasvi Jaiswal, one of their first-choice batters, slots in after the kind of performances Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have been putting in.

There’s fearlessness that stems from the freedom they’re reveling in under their captain. This has given Gautam Gambhir less headaches in at least one format, because India’s transition has been smoth post the retirement Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

Tilak Varma is India’s Swiss Army knife T20 batter
Carse extends his excellent winter with a do-it-all performance
Reddy and Rinku injured, Dube and Ramandeep join India’s T20I squad

England’s white-ball renaissance – much talked about since their 50-over World Cup win in 2019 and T20 World Cup win in 2022 – has somewhat hit a roadblock. Jos Buttler has endured one reversal after another, including two poor World Cups (ODI in 2023 and T20 in 2024) even as he continues to remain optimistic of a turnaround amid churn.

Brendon McCullum‘s entry as white-ball coach couldn’t have begun on a more challenging note and a series defeat in India, on the back of the T20 World Cup disappointment, could be yet another major setback.

Jofra Archer breathing fire, with his pace, upon his return from a series of back issues, bodes well for England, as does the pace and hostility of Mark Wood. The batting has let them down in the first two games, and they’ll need to do heaps better if they are to prevent another series defeat.

Form guide

India WWWWL (Last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
England LLLWW

In the spotlight: Suryakumar Yadav and Liam Livingstone

Suryakumar Yadav had a mixed bag in South Africa, but when he conceded his No. 3 spot to Tilak Varma for the third and fourth T20Is, the youngster stood up with back-to-back centuries. Suryakumar managed scores of 21, 4 and 1 in the three innings there, and now has 0 and 12 in two games in this series. The return to Rajkot may elicit happy memories of him hitting his first T20I century in India – in 2023 vs Sri Lanka.

Liam Livingstone has come to India with a reputation of playing spin well, but has been out to spinners in both games. In Kolkata, he misread a Varun Chakravarthy wrong’un and was bowled through the gate. In Chennai, he didn’t account for Axar Patel’s lift and was caught pulling. With India likely to persist with their four-pronged spin attack, Livingstone needs to devise a method that allows him to score with the rate that has made him hot property.

Team news: Dube, Jurel or Ramandeep?

India should slot Shivam Dube back into the XI after being called in to replace the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy. This means Dhruv Jurel, who got a game in Chennai because India didn’t have another batter on the bench, will likely make way. Ramandeep Singh has an outside chance too.

India (probable XI): 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.

England have announced an unchanged XI. Jacob Bethell, who missed the Chennai T20I due to an illness, will therefore be on the sidelines. His replacement, Jamie Smith, struck a breezy 12-ball 22 in his first outing of the series.

England XI: Phil Salt (wk), 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jos Buttler (capt), 4 Harry Brook, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jamie Smith, 7 Jamie Overton, 8 Brydon Carse, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Adil Rashid.

Pitch and conditions: Highway in Rajkot?

There are only two types of surfaces largely possible in Rajkot because of the geography. A road that many liken to the highway that runs next to the Niranjan Shah Stadium, and a rank turner that Saurashtra – the home team – often tailor, like they did last week, to suit their spin strength. Given this is a T20I, there’s little doubt what will be on offer. So expect a flat track full of runs, and dew that will most-likely make toss very crucial once again.

Stats and trivia: Arshdeep on the brink of another milestone

Since the 2024 T20 World Cup ended, India and England are both neck-and-neck (England 9.35, India 9.34) as far as powerplay run-rate goes. It’s in the middle overs where India have stood out with their new mantra of all-out aggression, scoring at 10.07 compares to England’s 8.90. England’s sample size (eight T20Is) is smaller than India’s (17) though.
England hit a boundary every 4.9 balls on an average in T20Is since 2024. This is the third-best among all Full Members in T20Is in this period, behind Australia (4.6) and India (4.8).
India have won four of the five T20Is in Rajkot. This includes wins by 80-plus run margin in their last two outings.
Tilak Varma has scored 318 runs across four innings since his last dismissal in T20Is and has struck at 182.75 in this period.
England’s win-loss record in India in T20Is is 9-10. South Africa and Bangladesh are the only other countries where they’ve lost more T20Is than they won.

Quotes

“Him playing or not playing – I’m not the one who can answer. There’s definitely a plan, looking to the coming matches and one-dayers. That’s something Gautam bhai and Surya will take a call, but his fitness is definitely not a problem.” — India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak on the big question surrounding Shami

“I felt a little bit hit and miss — I’ve done a couple of good things, it’s great that my pace has been up there and I feel it’s coming out of my hand well, but the accuracy at times hasn’t been quite where I wanted it. But when I haven’t played since August, it’s pretty much expected — I’ve played two games since then. Hopefully the more I play, the better I get leading into the 50-over stuff and the Champions Trophy.” — England quick Mark Wood gives an honest appraisal of where he’s at

Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo