After enduring a shock and embarrassing 2-0 series defeat in Ireland for the very first time in their history, team India will be looking to make amends in the 2nd leg of their full-fledged white-ball tour of Europe, starting with a 5-match T20I series in England.
The 1st T20I takes place today at the beautiful Riverside Ground in Chester-Le-Street where there are heavy chances of rain but everyone is hopeful to have a full game tonight.
The Indians are battling with inconsistency, especially in batting during the recent tour of Ireland. This has put immense pressure on skipper Shreyas Iyer who is still chasing his first victory as India’s new T20I captain.
The squad receives a major boost with the return of spinner Varun Chakaravarthy but teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is expected to sit out for the game.
On the other hand, England enters the series opener with high confidence, boasting an unbeaten streak across their last five bilateral T20I series.
Led by Harry Brook, the hosts are expected field a settled line-up with explosive openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler ready to exploit home conditions with express pacer Jofra Archer, who recently became the player of the series in the recently concluded 3-match Test series against New Zealand, has been rested.
India Vs England, 1st T20I: Toss update
Indian captain Shreyas Iyer has won the toss and chose to bat first in Chester-Le-Street.
Interestingly, the last time India chose to bat first after winning the toss outside of Asia was against South Africa at Johannesburg in November 2024 under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy. The Men in Blue went on to win that match by 135 runs.
India Vs England, 1st T20I: Playing XIs
India XI: Sanju Samson (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy.
England XI: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (WK), Harry Brook (C), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood.
India Vs England, 1st T20I: Live streaming details
The entire 5-match T20I series between India and England will be live streamed exclusively on the Sony Sports Network across Television screens and on Sony LIV app/website.
