NEW DELHI: When the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian T20 team plays an evenly matched England in a five-match series beginning in Kolkata on Wednesday, fans will be closely watching fit-again pacer Mohammed Shami‘s return as they try to make up for the recent Test disasters that have caused a great deal of heartache and turmoil.
The white-ball rubber, which consists of three ODIs and five T20Is, provides the perfect setting for both teams to try out different lineups and evaluate their performance prior to the Champions Trophy next month.
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With 24 wickets, including an incredible 7/57 in the semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede, Shami became India’s top wicket-taker in the ODI World Cup 2023 despite missing four games.
It’s interesting to note that the bowler has taken 24 wickets at an average of 29.62 in his brief T20I career. He will try to surpass that total while proving his fitness.
Due to an ankle injury that necessitated surgery, Shami was sidelined following the November 19, 2023, loss to Australia in the final. Following his recuperation from that, he experienced swelling in his left knee a few weeks prior to the domestic comeback.
After being selected for India’s Champions Trophy team, Shami‘s comeback will attract national interest.
With Jasprit Bumrah, the pace leader, recovering from a back ailment and unlikely to play in the Champions Trophy, Shami’s return takes on more importance.
With a seven-wicket haul, the 34-year-old led Bengal to their first victory of the season in the Ranji Trophy, marking his competitive comeback.
His subsequent efforts in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (five wickets) and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (eleven wickets) were outstanding.
With only 23 matches since his 2014 debut, Shami’s T20I career has been patchy. He last played against England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal.
With the Rohit Sharma-led Indian Test set-up still reeling from a horror tour of Australia, a good performance from the T20 side has become imperative especially after the Board had to step in to reinforce diktats on team discipline.
In the T20I format, all-rounder Axar Patel will make his debut as India’s vice captain.
He has been rewarded for his outstanding all-around play during India’s successful Caribbean T20 World Cup campaign the previous year.
Axar grabbed nine wickets at an average of 19.22 across eight games, including a pivotal 47 off 31 balls in the final against South Africa.
The Gujarat player has already laid out his plans for India’s middle order, highlighting a flexible strategy in which players alternate between the third and seventh positions based on the circumstances of each match.
Sanju Samson of Kerala, who was left out of India’s Champions Trophy squad, will also be the focus of attention as he enters another pivotal phase of his career.
The Kerala selectors also chose not to include him in their Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh.
As evidenced by his recent series against South Africa, where he became the first Indian to hit consecutive T20I hundreds, the wicketkeeper-batter has repeatedly shown his abilities.
Along with the undisputed Hardik Pandya, the team now includes another pace-bowling all-rounder in Nitish Reddy, a promising all-rounder who won a position in the squad after scoring his first Test century against Australia in December at Melbourne.
The series is the start of a new era for Jos Buttler’s England team under head coach Brendon McCullum, who took over after Matthew Mott resigned after their T20 World Cup loss. McCullum signed a three-year contract.
McCullum, whose aggressive ‘Bazball’ style revolutionized Test cricket, will now try to duplicate that success in the limited-overs game.
The legendary player from New Zealand, who also led the Kolkata Knight Riders after playing for the team in the first IPL, would not be unfamiliar with the situation.
Key players Sam Curran, Will Jacks, and Reece Topley will be absent for England, but Jacob Bethell, a potential 21-year-old who performed well in the ODI series against the West Indies last year, will try to make an impression.
Over his seven T20I outings, Bethell has averaged 57.66 struck at 167.96.
Similar to Shami, Jofra Archer, England’s fiery pacer, will be in the spotlight as he makes a comeback from injury to spearhead their pace attack in the run-up to the Champions Trophy.
However, bowlers may face difficulties in India due to the potential for heavy evening dew. After recovering from a right elbow injury, fast bowler Mark Wood is also included in the team.
Following Wednesday’s encounter, the series would proceed to Chennai for the second Twenty20 International on January 25. Rajkot, Pune, and Mumbai would then play on January 28, January 31, and February 2, respectively.
On February 6, Nagpur will host the ODI leg, which will then move on to Cuttack on February 9 and Ahmedabad on February 12.
Teams (from):
India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Axar Patel (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar and Dhruv Jurel (wk)
England: Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook (vc), Phil Salt (wk), Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, and Mark Wood