India came up with another T20I combination as Rishabh Pant opened the innings with captain Rohit Sharma in the second T20I against England in Birmingham on Saturday, July 9. India made 4 changes as they preferred in-form Deepak Hooda. Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel and Ishan Kishan returned to the XI as Test regulars from the XI.
India are opening T20I cricket in the absence of KL Rahul with Ishan Kishan, who has been sidelined due to injury. Kishan made his batting debut at home against South Africa in June, and continued to play a role in 2 T20Is in Ireland.
england vs india 2nd t20 update
Even after Rohit Sharma’s return to the XI for the first T20 International against England on Thursday, Ishan Kishan retained his position as the opener.
However, on Saturday, India tried Pant at the top of the order as Ishan Kishan made way for the in-form wicketkeeper-batsman, who went on to score a century and a half-century at the same venue in the second T20I – Edgbaston – in The 5th Test against England was rescheduled earlier this month.
Pant has never opened in the T20I format of the game before, although he has played in domestic T20Is. Notably, India were expected to open with Virat Kohli and Rohit, but the team management surprised by sending Pant along with the captain at the top.
Pant has not managed to set the T20I format on fire. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored just 84 runs in 5 T20Is when he led India at home against South Africa last month.
Notably, India have quite a problem with almost every venue in the lead up to the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. On Saturday, India retained Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik for the lower middle order role and sent Pant up the order.
India also dropped in-form Deepak Hooda, who is in good form at No. 3 and brought back Kohli, who has been under pressure due to weak patches across all formats of the game.
India’s playing XI for the second T20 International in England
Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.
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