Bristol [UK], July 9 (ANI): India won the toss and elected to field first during their fourth T20I of the five-match England series at Bristol on Thursday.
India is 2-0 down in the series, with the first match being a washout. India is still searching for their first T20I win under newly-appointed skipper Shreyas Iyer, having previously registered a shock 0-2 series loss to Ireland days before this match. Now, the best India can do is to draw the series.
Speaking during the toss, Iyer said that pacer Harshit Rana and spinner Varun Chakravarthy will miss out, with Prasidh Krishna and Washington Sundar drafted into the playing XI. Rana and Varun suffered hamstring injuries in the third T20I and will miss the final two matches.
“We are going to bat first. (must-win game now..) Certainly, and we are going to play like that. We saw the fearlessness which we’ve been carrying for the first two games. It’s just that we are not able to execute the plans as much as possible, but today, it is a fresh day, a fresh start, and the boys are in pretty high spirits. (Last game is history. Have to start afresh today?) Absolutely, but when you say positive, you have to read the environment and have that sort of awareness about how the game is going. You need to adapt as quickly as possible to the wicket and where the wind is blowing. So, all these things, tactically, you have got to be up to your mark. And I think if these things are sorted, definitely you get the results. (And what do you make of the surface?) It looks good. It has got a decent amount of grass over the wicket. So, definitely we will have a look at how it plays from the first ball. (And any changes in your side now that you’re batting first?) We’ve got two changes, two injuries actually. Varun and Harshit go out, so Washington and Prasidh comes in.”
On the other hand, England skipper Harry Brook announced one change, with all-rounder Rehan Ahmed coming in for Liam Dawson.
“Yeah, we would have won the toss and batted. Looks a very good surface. As Shreyas said, there is a nice even spread of grass, so we will see how it plays. Yeah, we played awesome (in the series so far). We adapted well to conditions, we communicated really well, and it was a very, very good team performance. (All round, now this becomes an important game. You win here, you win the series.) Yeah, that would be lovely. It would be lovely to come into the third game that we have managed to finish and win the series. So, we will see how it goes tonight, but I think more of the same as the other night, really. Adapt to the conditions as well as you can, communicate well, and back ourselves. (Always good to see when seven, eight players are performing game after game.) Yeah, that is the beauty, the side that we’ve picked, really. We have got so many good players in the eleven, and everybody can contribute in different ways, whether that is with the bat, ball, or in the field. (Any changes in your side for today?) Yeah, Rehan Ahmed comes in for Liam Dawson.”
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.
England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue. (ANI)
Related reading
