India will be embarking on a new journey in the New Year when the Men in Blue take on England in the first of five T20Is at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday (January 22). With Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja already retired from T20Is, the limelight will be on comeback man Mohammed Shami, who is returning to India colours after more than a year following his long rehabilitation.
Having returned to competitive cricket last November, Mohammed Shami, with a knee cap, bowled full steam for 45 minutes. During this time, the Bengal pacer didn't take any assistance from the team’s physiotherapist or strength and conditioning coach.
Under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Morne Morkel, Mohammed Shami bowled his trademark fiery spells. Not only his rhythm improved with each delivery, but Mohammed Shami also extracted bounce and movement, troubling the likes of Tilak Varma and Abhishek Sharma.
On the other hand, England, who also arrived in Kolkata on January 18, didn't train at Eden Gardens on Sunday. Notably, under Gautam Gambhir as head coach, India have a brilliant record in T20Is.
Since the former India opener replaced Rahul Dravid, India played seven T20Is winning six and losing one. One game against Sri Lanka ended in a tie, which India won via Super Over. India's only loss in T20Is under Gautam Gambhir came against South Africa.
India and England have played 11 T20Is on Indian soil. The Men in Blue have won six T20Is against England at home. India's only T20I against England at Eden Gardens came in 2011 which the visitors won by six wickets with Kevin Pietersen scoring a half-century.
India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel (VC), Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy
England: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (C), Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood
The India vs England 1st T20I will be played at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on January 22. The IND vs ENG 1st T20I will start at 7 PM IST.
Star Sports are the official broadcasters of India vs England T20I series. Fans can watch the India vs England 1st T20I on all Star Sports channels.
Live streaming of India vs England 1st T20I will be available on Disney-plus Hotstar.
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