Team India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat against England in the first T20I match at The Rose Bowl, Southampton. Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh received his maiden debut cap from skipper Rohit as he was preferred over Umran Malik who played in the T20I series against Ireland.
Arshdeep was picked in India’s squad for Ireland tour for the first time but failed to get a chance in XI there. However, the management decided to give them a chance in the first T20I against England. The left-arm seamer impressed many in the last couple of seasons of IPL for Punjab Kings.
Live Score India vs England 1st T20I Updates
He claimed 10 wickets in IPL 2022 at an economy rate of 7.70. He bowled tough overs for Punjab Kings and turned out to be economical in death overs.
After missing Edgbaston Test due to COVID-19, Rohit returned to India’s playing XI for the T20I series-opening clash. The Indian skipper also heaped praise on Arshdeep and called him an exciting prospect for his impressive show in IPL.
“We are making him (Arshdeep) play. There were a few choices for us, the other guys will have their time. Arshdeep has done well in the IPL, looks an exciting prospect,” Rohit said at the toss.
The 34-year-old also talked about his recovery from COVID and the bench strength of the Indian team.
“We are gonna bat first. Looks like a good pitch, decent ground to play. Good pitch, sun is out, better thing to bat first. Recovered pretty well, had a couple of hits before getting into this game. Looking forward to the game as well. We know the scheduling, we got to have the understanding, players will be swapped every now and then. You can create your bench strength as well, a lot of opportunities for guys to come out and play. Exciting times, these guys have been here for a while playing in Ireland and played a couple of games here as well,” Rohit added.
It is also the first match for Jos Buttler after getting appointed England’s limited-overs captain. The wicketkeeper batter said he will look to continue the winning momentum that England picked up after winning Edgbaston Test.
“Very proud day, captaining your country. Eoin has left the team in a great place The Test team has been fantastic to watch. Hopefully, we can ride that momentum. Gleeson, Willey and Salt miss out. We have a couple of all-rounders,” Buttler said.
Playings XIs for 1st T20I
England Playing XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w/c), Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Reece Topley, Matthew Parkinson
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
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