Only three days ago, the two teams were part of a draining battle in the
Test series in which things went from bad to worse for India while
England rose in confidence and three days later, they are ready to take
on each other for a couple of Twenty20s. Of the two, India needs a win,
any win.
For India, it is a strange situation. First, they fell in their own trap
in the Tests and now they need to find the motivation to come out of
the slump and play positive cricket. It doesn't help that the nucleus of
their T20 squad is still the same as the Test side. MS Dhoni, whose
leadership has been under fire, needs to arrest the slide and switch
gears for a format, which appears, suited to the Indian team -
hard-hitting batsmen, restrictive bowlers and a wait-and-watch style of
captaincy. The reality, though, is that India haven't really dominated
on the international level even in T20s.
Unlike India, England's T20 side bears a completely different look. The
architects of the series win are already back in England for Christmas,
but they have left a scarred Indian team for their T20 generation to
feast upon. Most in the side, captained by Eoin Morgan, have been in
India for some time now and would have spent time getting used to the
spinning conditions. So on paper, England have again been methodical in
their preparations. That doesn't directly translate to success - if
pitches take spin, the young side could again appear like rabbit in
headlights. But it points to one clear difference between the two sides -
one fighting their demons, the other ignoring theirs.
Form guide
(Most recent first)India WWLWW
England LWLLW
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