Equals Clash in T20I series between England and India

Manchester: After a consolidatory 2-0 win against Ireland, Indian team is all set to counter England for three T20Is, three ODIs, and five Tests. India's tour of England will kick-start on 3 July with a T20I match.

Both India and England, seem to be in sublime touch. However, the injury voes are hurting the Indian team as they have lost a death-over specialist in the name of Jasprit Bumrah.

Hence, with the England batsmen on song, India will face an uphill task against England in the coming T20I series.

England are on a roll and at home, while India have a stellar team too and look good to compete against the hosts on an even footing.

When England host India for the first Twenty20 International of their three-match series on Tuesday at Old Trafford, it will be a clash between two outstanding 20-over teams.

India are ranked No.2, and England are No.4, and while India have warmed up nicely for the series with two convincing wins over Ireland, England are at home and in rollicking form. No quarters will be given and none will be asked for.

Jos Buttler has been in the form of his life, across formats. It’s difficult for a middle-order batsman to do much when the men before you include some of the best in the business, but he has got his chances and he has made the most of them. The Indians know him well, and know what a huge threat he can be.

Opener Dawid Malan has been added to the England squad as the injury cover for Tom Curran, who suffered a side-strain. With a lot of options in the bowling line-up, England opted against a bowler-for-bowler replacement and therefore called Dawid Malan in the sqaud.

Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar have been ruled out of the T20I and ODI series. Deepak Chahar and Krunal Pandya have been called as the potential replacements.

The left-arm wrist-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav just has that happy knack of picking up wickets. Keeping things tight is key in T20s, and Kuldeep does that too.

Teams from

England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey

India: Virat Kohli (c), Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav

Pitch and conditions
The humidity levels will be around 34. With the game being an afternoon fixture, the temperature is expected to be around 25 degree Celsius. There is no forecast of rain and it promises to be a pleasant day in Manchester.

Stats and trivia

• MS Dhoni needs two more stumpings to acquire the No.1 position on the list of most stumpings in the history of T20I cricket.
• Virat Kohli needs to hit seven more fours to surpass Mohamed Shahzad of Afghanistan to acquire the second place on the list of most fours in the history of T20I cricket.
• Virat Kohli needs only 17 more runs to reach 2000 T20I runs and Rohit Sharma needs to score 51 runs more to achieve the same feat.
• Dhoni needs to score 45 runs more to complete 1500 T20I runs.

Match facts
Tuesday 3 July, 2018
Start time: 17:30 local (16:30 GMT)