Fantasy suggestions for the second T20I between India and England
Feb 14: India vs England, 2nd T20I, Ahmedabad
Pro Tip: Teams chasing will have an advantage because of the dew factor. Look to add an extra player from the chasing team after the toss.
Our XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Jonny Bairstow, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer
Substitutes: Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan
Player availability: Virat Kohli suggested that Rohit Sharma will be rested for this game too. No other major changes in player availability from the last game.
We might not always be able to tip you off about late injury (or other relevant) updates, so please finalise your team after the toss.
Captain: Virat Kohli
While it is a gamble to give Kohli captaincy considering his current form, since 2019 – among the top ten teams – nobody has scored more runs than his 761 runs in at an average of 50.73 and a strike rate of 144.12. He was India’s highest run-scorer in their last T20I series against Australia with 134 runs in three games.
Vice-captain: Jofra Archer
Archer was the IPL 2020’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the Man of the Match in the last game for his scintillating figures of 4-1-23-3. For a fast bowler. he has phenomenal returns in the sub-continent where he has taken 64 wickets in 47 games at an average of 20.21 across all T20s.
Hot Picks
Jos Buttler: Buttler has been in splendid form since taking over opening for England, scoring 583 runs in 15 games at an average of 48.58 and a strike rate of 152.61. He loves batting in India, as he has amassed a staggering 767 runs in his last 15 T20s there at an average of 59.
KL Rahul: Rahul, who is currently ranked third among batsmen, was the highest Indian scorer in the last two IPL seasons with 593 and 670 runs, respectively. He was also the highest run-getter in two of the last three T20I series – away to New Zealand (224 runs) and at home to Sri Lanka (99 runs).
Rishabh Pant: Although yet to fully capitalise on his batting abilities in T20Is, Pant has been a phenomenal player in IPL over the last three years, where he has scored 1515 runs at an average of 40.94 and a strike rate of 152.26, third highest in the tournament.
Differential Picks
Jonny Bairstow: Despite a disappointing Test series, Bairstow showed glimpses of what he can do in the shortest format during his innings of 26 from 17 balls in the first T20I. Much like Buttler, he loves batting in India, where he averages 59.12 and strikes at 156.10, his best returns across any country.
Washington Sundar: Sundar started the series with a bang by removing a well-settled Jason Roy off his very first delivery. Since making his T20I debut, he has picked up the second most number of wickets (12) and has the best economy (6.44) for spinners in powerplay with minimum 15 innings.
Alternate Scenarios
- Roy and Dawid Malan can be swapped.
- One of Deepak Chahar or Bhuvneshwar Kumar can be selected depending on the playing XI.
- Bairstow and Rahul are the alternate choices for captaincy.