Toss India chose to bat vs England
India’s management had dead-batted the prospect of Sooryavanshi making the step up after a stellar IPL campaign, but having left him on the sidelines for two T20Is in Belfast, as well as the first game of the series against England, they have given into temptation. He received his cap from Tilak Varma, and replaces Sanju Samson – India’s Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup earlier this year – after a run of 5, 0 and 1.
“He completely deserves [it], the way he has performed that last couple of months,” India’s captain, Shreyas Iyer, said of Sooryavanshi at the toss. “He doesn’t take pressure, you see him in the dressing room and he has that unflinching nature.”
England had named their team in advance, with two changes from the washed-out first T20I at Chester-le-Street: Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue – the latter making his debut – in for Saqib Mahmood and Luke Wood. “We’re happy with selections, Jof coming back in is a very strong player,” Harry Brook said. “Tonguey has been knocking the door down and I think it’s the right time for him
On the prospect of facing down India’s teenage phenom, Brook said: “We’ve been thinking about tactical decisions, it’s just about executing them.”
England 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Harry Brook (capt), 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Tom Banton, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Josh Tongue
India 1 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshit Rana, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Varun Chakravarth
