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IND vs ENG 1st T20I Dream11 Prediction Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | IND vs ENG 1st T20 Dream11 Prediction Today | India vs England 1st T20I Key Players | Motera Ahmedabad Pitch Report

India and England face-off in the 1st of the 5 T20Is at Motera in Ahmedabad with an eye on the T20 World Cup which will be held later this year in the same country. Both the teams are considering this series as a preparation for the multi-nation tourney and two of the best teams in the world will be aiming to test their teams and observe how their players fare in the roles assigned to them. 

India have finally rewarded players who played a fearless brand of cricket in the IPL and hence Suryakumar Yadav is set to get his first international cap. Rishabh Pant is back into the squad after he was axed post a poor IPL for the T20I series against Australia, while Hardik Pandya will be playing at number six, and most probably, will be bowling a few overs. 

On the other hand, England will be playing with a full-strength team, unlike the Test matches. However, adapting to the Indian conditions especially the turning nature of pitch and dew will be the key for the visiting side. 

All-in-all, a potentially classic series awaits between two of the top white-ball sides in the world.

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

• Rohit Sharma needs 26 runs to score 9,000 runs in the shortest format of the game. He has scored a century against England and he will be the key in the series. The opener needs to tackle the Jofra Archer threat as the pacer has dismissed him twice in 3 innings in the IPL. 
• Virat Kohli has a below-par strike rate of 110 in the middle-overs and it will be interesting to see whether he adopts a fearless approach to his gameplay. He has the most runs in IND-ENG T20Is (12 inns, 346 runs, avg. 31.45, SR 130.56).
• Suryakumar Yadav had an impressive strike rate of 152 against pacers in IPL 2020 and it will be interesting to see how he fares in the T20I series. Overall, he struck 480 runs at 40 in IPL 2020.
• KL Rahul scored the most runs in IPL 2020 (670), but his strike rate was in question. Will he play with freedom in this series? He has a century and half-century in six T20Is vs England.
• Yuzvendra Chahal has the most wickets in IND-ENG T20Is (9 in 6 matches).

England:

• Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan had strike rates of 120 and 110 respectively in the middle overs in IPL 2020. Considering they will be batting in the middle-order, the duo will be up for a big challenge. 
• Dawid Malan has a strike rate of 152 and an average of 61 at number three in T20Is. The No. 1 T20I batsman will have a huge task on his hands in the upcoming series.
• Jos Buttler has a somewhat modest record vs India, but can fire at any given moment. He averages 28.71 in 12 matches against them, with a strike rate of 137.67.
• Jofra Archer, IPL 2020’s MVP, is set to play after an elbow complaint. He will be key at both the powerplay and death over stages.

Stats and Facts

• Virat Kohli is 72 runs away from becoming the first cricketer in history to reach 3,000 runs in T20Is while Jonny Bairstow needs 68 runs to reach 1,000 runs in the format. 
• India have won 4 out of their last 5 T20Is against England. 
• Chahal needs one more wicket to become India’s top wicket-taker in T20Is. 
• Hardik Pandya recently won man of the series in the T20Is vs Australia (SR 156 in three matches).
• Adil Rashid has just three wickets in six T20Is vs India.

Possible Playing 11

Virat Kohli stated in the pre-match press conference that KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma will open the batting for the home side and Suryakumar Yadav might be preferred over Shreyas Iyer. There will be a dilemma whether to prefer a spin-bowling all-rounder or a pacer but it depends whether Hardik Pandya is fit to bowl. Also, T Natarajan is in doubt with a shoulder injury.

India: 1. Rohit Sharma, 2. KL Rahul, 3. Virat Kohli (c), 4. Suryakumar Yadav, 5. Rishabh Pant (wk), 6. Hardik Pandya, 7. Washington Sundar, 8. Axar Patel/Deepak Chahar, 9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10. Yuzvendra Chahal, 11. T Natarajan/Shardul Thakur/Navdeep Saini

England’s Top 6 is all set, with Moeen Ali and Sam Curran set to be the all-rounders. Adil Rashid will be the lead spinner of the attack and Chris Jordan will be the pacer who is guaranteed to start. Also, after some doubt about Archer’s availability, skipper Morgan said he is available for the series.

England: 1. Jason Roy, 2. Jos Buttler (wk), 3. Dawid Malan, 4. Jonny Bairstow, 5. Eoin Morgan, 6. Ben Stokes, 7. Moeen Ali, 8. Sam Curran, 9. Jofra Archer, 10. Chris Jordan, 11. Adil Rashid

Motera Ahmedabad Pitch Report and Weather

The Ahmedabad pitch is expected to favour batsmen and offer assistance to spinners like it has in the past. Dew might come into the picture later in the evening and chasing will be the preferred option by the captain who wins the toss. 

Dream11 Prediction

Option 1:

Option 2:

Match Prediction

Both the teams will be aiming for a winning start to the 5-match series. But, given India’s familiarity with the conditions and if they adopt a fearless approach as the captain mentioned in the pre-match pre-conference, an Indian win shouldn’t come as a surprise. An exciting game awaits.

Written by Sarthak Karkhanis. Follow Sarthak on Twitter today.