Team India is on a high after an 8 wickets win in the first T20I against England at Manchester which got their tour to England rolling on a positive note. Kuldeep Yadav’s 5/24 and KL Rahul’s 101* trumped a valiant half-century from Jos Buttler, as English batsmen struggled against the guile of left-arm chinaman.
The second T20I will be played on a similar dry and spinning pitch at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff and England batsmen will have a chance to prove that Manchester was a one-off thing and a stint with ‘Merlyn’ has worked for them.
England batsmen had two problems with Kuldeep Yadav. They struggled against him and four of his five victims completely failed to pick his variations. This bowling level is a far cry from Ashton Agar’s spin in the Australia series. The break has given England to ponder some more things like their batting order as Joe Root in the team is a complete misfit, especially at no.6, given his strike rate in T20 cricket is 105.74 since 2016.
India, on the other hand, might continue with their experimentation mode while keeping in mind that they have a big chance of pocketing the series here and then going on from there. For India, Chahal had an off day, as he could not find any rhythm during the 1st T20I. On the batting side, we might get to see experimentation in the batting order this time, as Virat continues to focus on 2019 World Cup.
Anyways, the game is bound to be exciting, as England will be looking to save face and keep themselves alive in the series; while India will look to win the match and the series before the third T20I.
Toss:
England have won the toss and have opted to field
Playing XIs:
India Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Jonny Bairstow, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Jake Ball
