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Key areas for both India & England to work on in T20s | IND vs ENG T20I series preview: Key areas for both teams to work on ahead of T20 World Cup
After the completion of an eventful Test series, we are going to witness what is expected to be a belter of a T20I series between India & England.
Being two of the best sides in the white-ball cricket right now, both India & England pose a very strong case to lift the World T20 Trophy, with the tournament to be played later this year.
But, there are still some areas of concern for both of these sides. In this article, I am going to highlight those key areas on which they should work in this series.
India: Batting in the middle overs, bowling in the powerplay
Looking at the record, the Indian team has lost 8 T20Is since 2019. One of the major reasons of those defeats is their batting in the middle overs phase, i.e. between 7-15 overs. In those 8 games, the Indian batsmen have scored at a run rate of a mere 6.86 in the middle overs. They have taken 9.81 deliveries to hit a boundary.
In the last 2 series against NZ and Australia, the cumulative SR of Indian batsmen in the middle overs was just 116.20. They have taken a huge 10.8 balls to hit a single boundary in the middle overs phase. Overall in 2020, India struck 625 runs from 90 overs with the bat, at a SR of 115.74 and BpB of 10.58 .So, it clearly shows the lack of the ability as well as intent to hit boundaries in this phase of the game. As spinners operate in this phase predominantly, India needs to try and persist with someone like Suryakumar Yadav, who has great numbers against spin and thus could possibly be the solution to this issue.
Another issue they have faced is their bowling in the first six overs of the match. In the powerplay, the Indian bowlers have conceded runs at an economy of 8.16 and have managed to take just 5 wickets in the 8 games they have lost since 2019. Also, in the last series against Australia, the economy of Indian bowlers in the powerplay was 8.83, which is pretty high I feel. They took 4.15 balls to concede one boundary and got just 2 wickets in 3 games in the powerplay. So, they definitely will look to work on this area before the T20 World Cup.
Also read: Is India’s squad vs England their best in T20s for a while?
England: Opening issue and bowling in the death overs
The English team has literally the most destructive batting lineup in white ball cricket right now. They have chased some really big totals, but their opening pair hasn’t fired for them in recent times. The average partnership of the English opening pair is just 19.75 since 2020. They have lost their first wicket before reaching 20 runs on eight occasions out of a total of 12 times.
Jos Buttler has been phenomenal, but his partners haven’t been up to the mark. Jonny Bairstow had four scores of below 10 runs in the T20Is he opened in 2020 (and was demoted to number 4) and Jason Roy’s recent form in white-ball cricket is not promising. Although Dawid Malan hasn’t let them face any serious problem batting at number 3, England will definitely look to resolve this issue as he also might have an off day in a certain game.
Another glaring issue the English side needs to resolve is their bowling in the death overs. Since 2020, the English bowlers have conceded 569 runs at a very ordinary economy rate of 10.44 in the last five overs of the game. They haven’t really been able to keep the batsmen quiet, as their dot ball percentage of 24.46 suggests. So, it’s an area they definitely will look to improve.
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Both India and England are fantastic T20I sides and there is absolutely no doubt about it. But, they will become much more solid and perfect t20I teams if they resolve their respective issues as mentioned above.
Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.
