Instead of heading from practice to India’s change room, the trio of M.S. Dhoni, K.L. Rahul and Yuvraj Singh moved to the middle of the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium to have a look at the strip for Sunday’s second Twenty20 International against England.
The three set themselves up for a batting stint on a wicket adjacent to the match strip for a substantial period of time.
Perhaps the exercise — with throwdown specialist D. Raghavendra and fielding coach R. Sridhar hurling the white ball through the scoop at various angles — was to get accustomed to an unusually long boundary for an Indian cricket field.
But the kind of angles Dhoni faced did give a hint that he was actually trying to find a way out against the accurate England bowling that stifled the former captain in the ‘death’ overs at Kanpur.
All-round attack
An all-round England attack not only got an impressive plan in place but also executed it to near-perfection to not let any of the India batsmen take the game away.
The pace quartet of young left-armer Tymal Mills, white ball specialist Chris Jordan, seasoned Liam Plunkett and all-rounder Ben Stokes varied the pace, bowled perfect yorkers and wide yorkers — a potent weapon — and also used the angles effectively.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali was also at his restrictive best, registering his best figures in T20Is. That captain Eoin Morgan didn’t have to employ Adil Rashid right through the innings speaks volumes about the effectiveness of other bowlers.
Besides overcoming the England bowlers, Virat Kohli will have to get the combination right if India is to keep the series alive.
Kohli’s promotion to the top of the batting order gave Suresh Raina an opportunity to bat at his favourite No. 3 position. However, with Rahul struggling for form, India couldn’t really get off to a flier.
As a result, Mandeep Singh and Rishabh Pant — the two reserve batsmen in the squad who are primarily openers in the shortest form — may come into the fray.
Both had an extended run with the willow at the start of the practice session. It would be interesting if India decides to draft in either in place of Manish Pandey with a licence to cut loose.
In the bowling department, the long boundaries will surely tempt the team management to draft in leggie Amit Mishra in place of Parveez Rasool.
Two leggies, with different styles, will make India’s spin attack an aggressive one. With the challenge of keeping the series alive, that could well be the right approach come Sunday evening.
The teams (from): India: Virat Kohli (capt.), K.L. Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Amit Mishra, Parveez Rasool, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra.
England: Eoin Morgan (capt.), Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jake Ball, Tylam Mills, Chris Jordan and David Willey.
Match starts at 7 p.m .
