IND vs ENG: India have a lot of problems to choose a team for England T20I series

The Indian team management is facing the problem of going to five T20 Internationals against England, an assignment that marks the beginning of the side’s build-up to this year’s T20 World Cup at home. There are 19 players available for selection and with two contests for each slot, the XI for five matches, starting in Ahmedabad from Friday, would indicate that head coach Ravi Shastri, captain Virat Kohli and bowling coach Arun How are you looking? Over the next six to seven months for the shortest format.

Will they seek out a reconciled combination to bring the series first and then experiment, or will they move around in the squad looking at the big picture?

For a team that is so closely followed, results matter and that is why a set first eleven can be expected for the first three matches because all matches are of the same type at the same venue. Are on the track.

Rishabh Pant’s roaring comeback will lead to many interesting developments at the top of the order.

Pant’s inclusion means that KL Rahul, who was the first-choice keeper-opener until a few months ago, is unlikely to have a big glove.

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were a white ball opening pair until some time back, but Rahul’s emergence as a powerful ball specialist has stepped up the competition.

Dhawan had recently scored 150 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi and when it comes to Rohit, there is nothing to discuss.

So where does the team management fit into Rahul, who has been a successful IPL opener? Will he be slated in the middle order as Dhawan’s game is not suited to batting down?

These are two relevant questions and in the answer, there will be a follow-up question.

Captain Kohli himself expects to play big shots with No 3 and two game-changers such as Pant and all-rounder Hardik Pandya at Nos 5 and 6, where it ideally leaves Rahul?

He is the only place where he is in 4th place, but Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav are also in one place.

If one closely follows the pattern of choosing playing XI, Surya, a passionate favorite, will have to wait for his turn as Shreyas has done nothing wrong.

But when it comes to a three-way fight between Rahul, Shreyas and Surya, the Karnataka man hollows out two Mumbai boys with their strokes and ability to shift gears.

Similarly, in the pace department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was at one time India’s best white ball exponent, is coming back after a long hiatus and will be engaged in a two-way fight with Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur.

For Bhubaneswar, his experience and being a better bowler on death than Chahar is good for him.

Ditto for Chahar, a powerful outswing bowler but as a unilateral pony with a lack of variations during the back-10.

Shardul is a clever bowler who can swing it at high speed and use the long handle to the best effect out of the three.

Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel are the three spinners expected to find a place in the playing XI on the track of the dull Motera.

In a three-way fight, Thangarasu Natarajan, with his change of yorker, has a better chance to start than Navdeep Saini.

The two players, who will only appear when someone is injured or forced to rest, are Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tewatia as both cannot be fit anywhere.

Promoted

All in all, there are plenty of good players and with three-shot picks there is little room to fit them all – Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja and Jaspreet Bumrah are already resting from injury.

Once they return, it will be a major selection headache for management but one that they will not mind.