India vs England, 1st T20I: England elect to field
England have won the toss and elected to field in the first T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The opening T20I of five-match series succeeds the Test series that India won 3-1. Team India will be aiming to carry the momentum in the shortest format as well. Meanwhile, the visitors would want to make a turnaround in white-ball cricket. Here is more.
1st T20I: A look at the key details
The match is being held at the newly-built Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Notably, the world's biggest cricket stadium (in terms of seating capacity) earlier hosted the Day/Night Test and the fourth Test. As per reports, the pitch appears to be balanced at the moment. However, it can assist the spinners more. Anything over 160 could be a competitive score here.
Top two T20I teams to battle it out
England and India are the top two sides in the ICC T20I Team Rankings. The upcoming encounter is expected to be a cracker of a contest. Notably, both India and England are playing their second bilateral T20I series, comprising of five matches. It is interesting to note that both the teams defeated New Zealand in their only such series (five matches).
England will be the team to beat: Virat Kohli
Indian captain Virat Kohli highlighted the strengths of England, terming them "favorites". "No, I don't. I actually think it's England who will be the team to beat. They're the number one side in the world and the prime focus will be on them in this World Cups. All the other teams will be wary of the strengths that they bring," he said.
Records that can be scripted
In the upcoming game, Kohli could become the first player with 3,000 T20I runs. He (2,928) requires 72 runs to attain the special feat. Meanwhile, senior opener Rohit Sharma (2,773) could reclaim his second spot on the list of run-scorers. He needs 66 runs to go ahead of second-ranked Martin Guptill (2,839). Besides, England captain Eoin Morgan could complete 7,000 T20 runs.
A look at the playing XI of both teams
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
