Despite overcast conditions and rain in the air, India captain Shreyas Iyer opted to bat first against England in the T20I series opener at Chester-le-Street. Under such conditions, captains generally opt to bowl but Iyer, despite admitting there was some grass on the pith as well, chose the opposite.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik thinks that the 0-2 T20I series defeat to Ireland may have played a role in the decision where the Iyer-led team bowled first but failed to chase down in both the matches.
“India, choosing to bat, was a good decision, even though, obviously, there was a bit of weather around the corner constantly… The general tendency is to chase down totals. It was a bit of an awkward evening here because rain was always
looming around the corner, but I do think the Ireland hangover was there a bit. So, India decided, ‘let’s not chase and bat first’,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
Iyer top-scored with 68 off 47 while Abhishek Sharma struck 59 off 24 as India posted a challenging 189/7 at the Riverside Ground. However, England were denied an attempt to chase down the target as the contest was called off due to rain.
India will though be concerned by the form of their opening batter Sanju Samson who has now gone three innings without touching scores in double-digits. With Vaibhav Sooryavanshi waiting in the wings, the wicketkeeper-batter will be under the pump to perform in the second T20I scheduled to played in Manchester on Saturday.
Besides Samson, newly appointed vice-captain Tilak Varma’s struggled with pushing the scoring rate will also be in focus.
India’s T20I Squad For England T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, Suryansh Shedge, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Varun Chakravarthy.
