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It’s almost nine years to the day that Virat Kohli, a sprightly teenager fresh out of a successful Under-19 World Cup campaign, made his ODI debut for India in Dambulla. Now, he returns to the same venue as India captain, looking to build on a series of impressive results in recent times, but with an eye on the 2019 World Cup, which is little under two years away.The five-match series that starts on Sunday is crucial for Sri Lanka, who need two wins to ensure direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup. For Kohli, though, the priorities are to have a group that can embrace different challenges and push themselves to the limit in their quest to find the best possible set of players for that World Cup.”For us, it’s about the time frame and not the opposition,” he said on the eve of the first ODI. “Now is the time, you have to give players time in certain roles to get into the groove and understand what we need to do in reaching that World Cup. It’s about when you want to start giving roles to players and start experimenting as a team. We get carried away sometimes with Team India’s expectations, and you have to win every game, that we don’t fall away from pattern.”As a group, criticism will come along the way if you try things and lose. But we should be ready to embrace challenges, take risks and [be] ready to lose a few games if we need to try out something. We’re comfortable as a team with starting those things off, trying things in different ways. Things will happen. We need to start making the effort now because eight to ten months down the line, we will be solid in our roles.”Before that can happen, India will need to identify different players for different roles. Among the batsmen auditioning for middle-order berths will be KL Rahul and Manish Pandey, now that Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik have been left out. Rahul’s consistency across formats before his shoulder injury means he’s likely to slot in straight away, barring injury or illness. Pandey, who has been shunted up and down the order, may have to continue to adapt even if he’s coming off a dream run during India A’s tour of South Africa, where he made scores of 55, 41*, 86*, 93* and 32* in a successful campaign. Pandey’s presence in the squad could put Kedar Jadhav, the incumbent No. 6, under a bit of pressure to maintain his recent run of ODI form with bat and ball.”We feel KL [Rahul] obviously is such a solid player. Before injury, he’d done well in all three formats. It was unfortunate he missed out, and Manish got chances. KL will definitely play in the middle order,” Kohli said. “We’re not going to be predictable or have a set pattern any more in terms of what we want to do in ODIs and T20 cricket.”Anyone could go anywhere. That’s what we are looking to do. Someone like Manish, he’s done well, grabbed his opportunities. He’s got a hundred in Australia. We know about his talent, what he brings, super-fit guy who has a bright future ahead of him. He will certainly be backed. All three guys will have to compete for two spots, there are no guarantees for anyone. As long as there is healthy competition, everyone would keep pushing each other and it will only benefit Indian cricket.”The one thing Kohli categorically stated, though, was that Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma would be the first-choice openers, even though Ajinkya Rahane finished India’s last ODI series, in the West Indies, as the highest run-getter. For now, Rahane may have to bide his time for opportunities, with Kohli confirming he would be the side’s back-up opener.”It’s a pecking order you need to look at. Shikhar was not the mix of things till a few months back, but when he comes back, you’ve seen what he can do. It becomes tough to understand what you can do in that situation,” Kohli said. “He came and got Golden Bat in the Champions Trophy, he’s continued his form and won two Test matches with the bat. So he’s an impact player, we all know that. Shikhar and Rohit, what they’ve done in the past together, we understand their potential also. Jinx understands that. At this stage, he’s the third opener.”We will back him there, because he’s been shifted around a bit in the batting order which is not healthy for a guy who likes to open in the shorter format. But he’s grabbed his opportunity in West Indies where he was Man of the Series. So he continues to be in the set up. When you get larger number of chances depends on players’ form. He’s much more relaxed after the West Indies series.”

Dimuth Karunaratne has become the latest player to advocate for a stronger first-class competition in Sri Lanka, suggesting that India’s comparatively sturdy domestic infrastructure has seen them thrive in Test cricket.The number of players – both former and present – who have called for drastic change in first-class cricket now represents a consensus. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have been the most vocal critics of the present system, but virtually every former player, from Thilan Samaraweera to SLC cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha (who played as far back as the 1980s), have said domestic cricket is substantially weaker now than it had been when they were emerging as top players.Test captain Dinesh Chandimal and batsman Lahiru Thirimanne have at times spoken of the chasm in quality between domestic cricket and internationals as well. Despite this, the incumbent SLC board has failed to reform the club structure during their two years in office. However, board president Thilanga Sumathipala has promised a stronger five-team, four-day competition for next year – though those schedules have not been finalised yet.Where most players have asked for a higher standard of cricket, calling for a drastic reduction in the number of first-class teams, Karunaratne has said Sri Lanka’s players must play more games in the domestic season. This year a player from one of the top eight clubs played six three-day matches, and four four-day matches. In terms of one-day cricket, SLC hosted a 23-team District Tournament, in which a cricketer could expect to play a maximum of seven games, and most played only four, before hosting a much stronger provincial tournament, in which some cricketers played seven games. There was no domestic T20 cricket.”India have played a lot of good cricket,” Karunaratne said of the manner in which India have rebuilt their team. “They’ve played a lot of IPL and first-class cricket. In Sri Lanka, we only have eight to ten domestic matches in first-class. Then we have five one-dayers. That’s it for the season. I think that’s the main reason. We have to play more first-class cricket and then we can find more players who can dominate the game. That’s the thing SLC have to work on for the players.”Questions over the quality of Sri Lanka’s domestic cricket have also arisen in this match on the basis of left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara’s first-innings performance. He had 558 first-class wickets at 19.85 apiece before he made his debut in this match, but conceded runs at four an over, and finished with figures of 2 for 156 for the innings. Karunaratne, who himself has been through an extended weaning period at the top level, spoke also of the challenge bowlers might face in adjusting to Test-match intensity.”In Test cricket all best batsmen play, and we have to bowl intelligently,” he said. “We have to bowl on one side of the pitch and set the field accordingly. It takes 10-15 overs to get a wicket here. In the domestic level, sometimes you can get five wickets from five overs. International cricket is very different, and we need to get used to that. Like it’s tough to get a run, it’s also difficult to get a wicket.”

ScorecardBen Duckett had a major bearing on Northants’ victory•Getty Images

Ben Duckett’s 72 helped champions Northamptonshire home by six wickets with four balls to spare in the repeat of last year’s NatWest T20 Blast final against Durham at Chester-le-Street.There was also a vital contribution for Northants from South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. While Durham were unable to find a late substitute for the injured Tom Latham, Shamsi has been brought in for three games until Sri Lankan Seekkuge Prasanna becomes available.Shamsi’s chinamen proved something of a mystery as he took 2 for 20 in four overs, which included having Paul Collingwood, one of the mainstays of Durham’s innings caught low down at extra cover.Chasing Durham’s 161 for 7, Duckett initially stuggled to find his timing, despite scooping Chris Rushworth to fine leg for his only six in the third over.But the left-hander always seemed to have things under control and it was a surprise when he reverse-swept to point with 29 needed off 3.2 overs. He made his runs off 56 balls and hit nine fours.Durham’s superior athleticism restricted their visitors’ ability to run twos. Nor could Northants clear the rope with ease as it was pushed well back and Josh Cobb, the matchwinner in last year’s final, was caught on the midwicket boundary.Skipper Alex Wakely was also caught just inside the rope at backward square for 27 in the 18th over, leaving Rob Keogh and Steven Crook to score 18 off two.Keogh collected two boundaries off Usman Arshad then hit James Weighell over mid-off for the winning four.Jack Burnham lacked support in the closing overs of Durham’s innings as he completed his maiden T20 half-century in the final over by stepping across to scoop Ben Sanderson to fine leg. That brought his third four and he added two big sixes in his unbeaten 53 off 41 balls.Durham had hopes of reaching 180 while he was putting on 57 in six overs with Paul Collingwood, who also hit two sixes in his 38 off 28 balls. But once he was out to Shamsi – caught low down at extra cover – three more wickets fell to Rory Kleinveldt and only 35 runs came off the last five overs.

Pakistan have little more than 36 hours before taking the field again in Cardiff for their Champions Trophy semi-final against England, but will find time to address concerns about their middle order despite the joy of overcoming Sri Lanka to progress to the knockout stage.Fakhar Zaman’s explosive entrance to the one-day side, with innings of 31 off 23 balls against South Africa followed by his 35-ball 50 against Sri Lanka, has helped overcome the sluggish starts which have plagued their batting, but there were a series of loose dismissals in the chase which left them needing a rescue mission of dramatic proportions from captain Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Amir in an unbroken stand of 75 in 15 overs.”If you look at the game we started well but after Fakhar Zaman got out we lost the momentum and then most of our dismissals were soft which definitely is an area of concern for us,” Sarfraz said. “We will sit tomorrow and talk about this and hopefully we will recover from this.”After the way we started we could have finished this game with six or seven wickets in hand but those dismissals really dented us. We should have won by a good margin but a win is a win. Yes, we need to sit and talk about it and realise that if we a settled that we should take the game to the end rather than leaving it for the upcoming batsmen.”On his own innings, an unbeaten 61 off 79 balls, he admitted things went his way especially with the first dropped catch by Thisara Perera but was delighted to see the chase through. “I played the shot in the air, I just said, ooh…as a captain, it’s very important innings for me. After this innings, I’m really boosted.”Before the tournament, Sarfraz spoke about how the team’s No. 8 ODI ranking meant there were no expectations on them – which looked justified after the woeful performance against India, who they have a chance of meeting again in the final – but now they have a semi-final berth he sounded a little more bullish.”Indeed it was very important for us as a team. Obviously nobody was rating us and they were writing us off, but once again I give all the credit to the team management for boosting us after the India game, especially our bowlers. The way Junaid [Khan] and Amir bowled was a turning point. I hope we can carry the momentum ahead and take a lot of confidence.”Sarfraz also promised his side would play “positive” cricket against England, the side they conceded the world record ODI total of 444 for 3 against at Trent Bridge last year. That one-day series ended in a 4-1 drubbing but the lone Pakistan victory did come in Cardiff as they chased down 303 in which Sarfraz made 90.”We chased down 300-plus runs and that is a good memory,” he said. “We have to play positive cricket as England have been playing positive cricket in the last two years. Obviously we have to play hard and we will try to replicate our last year performance to win them again in Cardiff. If you’re playing a world class team you play more positive cricket. So will definitely do that against England.”

Match facts

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians
Bengaluru, April 14, 2017
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)4:13

Agarkar: To leave Chris Gayle out must be a tough decision

Head to head

Last season Mumbai Indians, bowling first on both occasions on chasing-friendly grounds, won both games.Overall Mumbai have an 11-8 winning record against Royal Challengers in the IPL. At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Mumbai have won six of seven games against RCB.

Form guide

• Royal Challengers Bangalore (sixth): lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs, beat Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs, lost to Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets

• Mumbai Indians (third): lost to Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets, beat Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets, beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four wickets

In the news

Royal Challengers captain Virat Kohli is available, having recovered from a shoulder injury. AB de Villiers, who missed the first two games with a back injury, struck a 46-ball 89 against Kings XI in the previous game. This means Royal Challengers will have their strongest squad, save for KL Rahul. Kohli, at a press conference, said Chris Gayle is a “top-contender” to play in all home matches. Vishnu Vinod may therefore be left out, and Jadhav could resume wicketkeeping duties.Kohli also said Royal Challengers are unlikely to bat first again at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. “We decided to strengthen our bowling and then back that part of our side, but now with me coming back that might change again,” Kohli said. “Bangalore has generally been a ground where you can chase down high totals. Tomorrow, being a day game, really matters because the wicket plays much better under lights than during the day time.”Since Lasith Malinga’s return from international duty, only Ambati Rayudu’s absence does not let them be a full-strength side. Their headache is the form of fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan, who has conceded 129 runs and taken three wickets in three games this season. In a like-for-like replacement, Mumbai may bring in Tim Southee for McClenaghan.RCB will be led out by their full-time captain on Friday•BCCI

The likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Pawan Negi, 9 Tymal Mills, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Aniket ChoudharyMumbai Indians: 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Rohit Sharma, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Stats that matter

• On a small ground, chasing seems to be the preferred way to go. In 10 T20s at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium before Royal Challengers’ successful defence of 157 against Delhi Daredevils in the previous game, five scores of over 200 were defended and the five totals under 200 were successfully chased.
• Chris Gayle’s weakness against right-arm spinners has been accentuated in the IPL. He has scored 771 runs in 574 balls in the IPL, at a strike rate of 134, and has been dismissed 19 times in 56 innings in which he has faced right-arm spinners. Against Harbhajan Singh, Gayle has scored just 65 runs in 65 balls in the IPL, with three dismissals.
• Using left-arm spin to limit damage against AB de Villiers, Against left-arm spinners, de Villiers has scored 448 runs in 330 balls, at a strike rate of 135.75. He has also been dismissed nine times in 46 innings.
  Who can Mumbai use? Krunal Pandya has conceded just seven runs in 10 balls against de Villiers. Krunal dismissed him twice in the last season.
• Royal Challengers have been Lasith Malinga’s only nemesis in the IPL. He has taken just 13 wickets against Royal Challengers at an an average of 36 – his worst average against any team in the IPL.
  At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Malinga has taken 5 wickets in 20 overs, at an average of 31.80 and an economy rate of 7.95, his worst at any venue where he’s bowled at least 20 overs.
• Malinga v de Villiers? De Villiers has scored 71 runs in 42 balls against Malinga without being dismissed. Malinga has a T20 economy rate of 6.74, compared to 10.14 against de Villiers.
• In the 2016 IPL, Virat Kohli had a single: dot ball ratio of 1.58 (291 singles: 184 dot balls). By contrast, Gayle had a single:dot ball ratio of 0.322 (29 singles: 90 dot balls).

For the second time in three days, a batsman has been given out despite the bulk of his body having crossed the plane of the crease.Dinesh Chandimal did initially ground his bat behind the crease as he sauntered in to complete a second run, in the 26th over, but he briefly raised it again as his body passed the line. His feet, however, did not touch the ground before the bails were dislodged.Collecting a good throw from deep point, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim snapped the bails off and appealed – if without much conviction. The Bangladesh fielders had actually returned to their fielding positions while third umpire S Ravi reviewed the footage, but were ecstatic at having wangled an important wicket when the decision came through.It was only on Thursday that Evin Lewis was run out in similar circumstances in at T20 against Pakistan in the Port-of-Spain. On that occasion, however, a collision had seen Lewis lose grip of his bat, and had contributed to his inability to ground some part of his body.And the Chandimal run out was also the second such dismissal Bangladesh have effected this year, with Neil Wagner having been dismissed this way in a Test match in January. Wagner had also grounded his bat, then raised it before the stumps were broken.The run out rule is about to change, however. From October, a batsman who has grounded his bat behind the crease before the bails are broken, cannot be given out even if the bat is later raised (provided it is clear the batsman is not attempting another run). Neither Wagner or Chandimal would have been out under that rule.

Likely first XI

Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Faf du Plessis, Steven Smith (capt), Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Shardul Thakur, Ankit Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Imran Tahir

Reserves

Batsmen – Usman Khawaja, B Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Manoj TiwaryBowlers – Ishwar Pandey, Saurabh Kumar, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Singh, Deepak Chahar, Jaydev Unadkat, Lockie Ferguson, Rahul ChaharAllrounders – Dan Christian, Rahul Tripathi, Milind Tandon

Strengths

They have arguably the best batsman in the world, the best finisher, and the best allrounder. Smith, Dhoni and Stokes form the crux of a robust middle order that is capable of blitzing targets as well as accumulating scores. Then there is the legspinner Tahir, the current No. 1 bowler in T20 cricket, who was rather surprisingly overlooked at the auction in February. Zampa was the surprise package in IPL 2016, peeling off 12 wickets in five matches at an economy rate of 6.76, and he enters this season with an enhanced reputation after productive stints with the Australian team and Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL. He could even jostle Tahir out of the playing XI should Supergiant opt to play just one spinner.

Weaknesses

No less than six Supergiant players – du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Smith, Mitchell Marsh, M Ashwin and Deepak Chahar – suffered injuries in 2016 with all four overseas names pulling out midway through the last season. They have now lost R Ashwin and Marsh even before the start of this season. Sports hernia has stripped Supergiant of their only frontline offspinner while their two left-arm fingerspinners, Ankit and Saurabh, lack T20 experience – the latter is yet to play an IPL match. Supergiant’s worries extend to their seam attack too. Thakur, who was acquired from Kings XI Punjab, might feel the aftereffects of a long domestic season as the IPL wears on: he bowled 417.3 overs across formats – the second-most by a seamer. Unadkat and Pandey are similar bowlers to RP Singh and Ishant Sharma, who were released from the squad.Dan Christian was on fire at the BBL but will he be able to overturn an otherwise lacklustre IPL career with a new franchise?•Getty Images

Where they finished in 2016, and what’s different this year?

Seventh. They were the first side to be knocked out last season.For starters, the management has changed the team’s name from Rising Pune Supergiants to Rising Pune Supergiant, and made Smith captain in place of Dhoni on the eve of the auction. Having released Thisara Perera, Albie Morkel and Irfan Pathan from the squad, Supergiant then splurged INR 14.5 crore (approximately USD 2.16 million) on Stokes, making him the most expensive overseas player ever bought at an IPL auction. They also spent a crore on Victoria and Hobart Hurricanes allrounder Dan Christian, who might be thrust into the spotlight when Stokes takes up national duty. That Supergiant shelled out millions for just two players meant they could not bid more aggressively for fast bowlers like T Natarajan and Basil Thampi. As a result, the seam attack remains largely unchanged. The top order, though, has been bolstered by the acquisition of Agarwal from Delhi Daredevils.

What have their players been up to?

• Stokes was distraught after being hit for four successive sixes in final in Kolkata last year, but a brutal fifty and the wicket of Virat Kohli, which helped England sew up a high-scoring thriller this year, came as a soothing balm. His hit-the-deck bustle challenged India in the limited-overs series before he showed innings-building skills while scoring a fifty against West Indies in Antigua.
• Christian had a fruitful BBL season with the Hurricanes, performing the dual role of taking wickets and curbing the run rate. He claimed nine wickets, including 5 for 14, the third-best figures in the history of the BBL. His batting wasn’t as sparkly in the tournament, but when Christian hits the ball, it stays hit. Case in point: this 117m monster at – or – the Gabba in 2015. On the flip side, Christian has struggled in the IPL, managing only 341 runs in 22 innings for Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore at a strike rate of 116.78.
• Dhoni smashed a half-century in his most recent T20I, then led Jharkhand to the semi-final of the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. He finished as his state’s second-highest scorer with 330 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of nearly 100.

Overseas-player availability

Stokes will be available to the franchise for the entire group stage, before returning to England on May 14 to prepare for three ODIs against South Africa in late May that serve as a warm-up for the Champions Trophy. Tearaway quick Lockie Ferguson will be with Supergiant until May 10, before linking up with New Zealand for a tri-series against hosts Ireland and Bangladesh.

Home and away record in 2016

Supergiant fared equally badly both at home and on the road. They were swept clean at the MCA Stadium in Pune, before they won two out of three games in their second home in Visakhapatnam and avoided a bottom-place finish. They also won three away matches, all while chasing.

Poll

The South African management is eyeing a semi-final finish or better for their women’s team, who qualified for the World Cup with victory over Sri Lanka on Friday. South Africa missed out on automatic entry into the tournament after finishing outside the top four in the ICC Women’s Championship but secured their spots through the qualifier, with a game to play, and are getting stronger as the showpiece event looms.”We have the players to be in the top four. It is just about being consistent as a team and as individual players,” Vincent Barnes, CSA High Performance Manager, who works with the men’s, women’s, A side and age-group teams told ESPNcricinfo. “If you look at teams like Australia or England, they have three or four match-winners in their side and those players will perform in three or four out of every five games. We need to develop that as well.”South Africa are currently ranked sixth in the ICC Team Rankings and lost recent series against New Zealand and Australia, which did not allow them to proceed straight to the World Cup. But they put their underperformance down to not having their best players available for all of those matches, either through injury or suspension. Pace spearhead Shabnim Ismail and wicket-keeper batsman Trisha Chetty were left out for disciplinary breaches – for which they underwent counseling – while Ayabonga Khaka and Laura Wolvaardt missed parts of the two series with niggles. Having all four back has made a big difference. “We’ve been able to put our best squad out there and we can see how well they have combined,” Barnes said.While Ismail and Chetty are experienced players whose quality is well-known, Khaka and Wolvaardt have made particularly crucial impressions now – Khaka for her aggressive bowling and 17-year-old Wolvaardt, who is the head girl at her school, for her composure opening the batting. But there have also been strategic changes to the way South Africa play. Lizelle Lee and Sune Luus have been moved up the order and Mignon du Preez handed the captaincy over to Dane van Niekerk, which has allowed both of them to blossom.”Captaincy is still new to Dane but she is extremely knowledgable about the game. Dane is very focused, very hard on herself,” Barnes said. “And it has allowed Mignon to concentrate on her batting because we always thought she could offer a bit more.”Since October, when du Preez effectively stood down, she has scored four half-centuries in 20 ODI innings. In the same time period, van Niekerk’s has soared – she has been batting an average of 49.90 as captain, compared to 32.75 overall and has contributed with the ball. Doubtless, van Niekerk’s experience at the Women’s BBL has also had some effect on her performances and Barnes hopes more South African players will get opportunities in overseas leagues. “We want them to experience competitive environments because it really does wonders for them.”As women’s cricket continues to grow and offer players more commercial opportunities, Cricket South Africa are doing what they can to keep up. Two years ago, they upped their contracts for female cricketers from six to 14 players and they have also moved women’s cricket to the high performance division. That means the players have specialised camps at one of the world’s best facilities at the University of Pretoria and there is also a women’s academy intake who are trained there. The aim is to ensure there is a steady pipeline of quality women’s players, who can join and ultimately take over from the current crop.”What happens is that when the women graduate to international cricket, there is a big step up from domestic game, that gap is widening all the time. At the high performance centre, our job is to close that gap,” Barnes said. “It’s similar to the structure of international teams – you have a strong top eight and then the rest.”That top eight will compete at the World Cup, for which South Africa have one more series in preparation. They will host India, Ireland and Zimbabwe for a quadrangular rubber in Potchefstroom in May before traveling to the UK 10 days before the World Cup starts.

Match facts

Thursday, January 26, 2017
Start time 1630 local (1100 GMT)Amit Mishra will lead India’s spinners in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s absence•BCCI

Big picture

England finally found reasons to grin when Chris Woakes owned the last four balls of his final over in Kolkata, sealing their first win since November. The tension, pressure, dejection and relief were all palpable in the closing overs. On India’s Republic Day, the teams now move to a format where those emotions last for the game’s entirety, and four well-executed yorkers mean nothing until you can “finish an over”.New limited-overs captain Virat Kohli hasn’t led India in a T20 but he is familiar with the nuances of the role, having captained Royal Challengers Bangalore since 2011. Besides, as was visible in the ODI series, he has MS Dhoni to guide him along. What either of them won’t have is the assurance of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, who were rested for the T20s. With a healthy mix of veterans – Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Amit Mishra – and uninhibited youth (Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya) in India’s squad, will experience or exuberance dominate?England’s T20 set-up is largely the same as their ODI team, a compliment to how seamlessly they can make the transition from one format to another. Despite not being “near their best”, they could have whitewashed India 3-0 in the ODIs had they won clutch moments. England’s batting explosiveness, from nos. 1 to 11, will keep them in the contest, and if the bowlers can find their end-overs rhythm, the visitors will be hard to get past.

Form guide

India LWWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England LWLWW

In the spotlight

Amit Mishra will take over as India’s leading spinner for the T20s, with Jadeja and Ashwin rested. Historically, England have had their share of woes against spin. A wristspinner, like Mishra, will extract more than a fingerspinner with the increased number of revolutions imparted on the ball. Despite his unwillingness to use the googly in the Test series against England, Mishra will be a handful even if England’s batsmen can read his variations.England posted scores of 350, 366 and 321 despite the absence of Jos Buttler‘s pyrotechnics through the middle overs. He scored just 52 runs in three innings. Armed with a variety of reverse-sweeps and scoops, Buttler is plausibly England’s most destructive ball-striker.

Team news

India have plenty of batsmen – both fresh and experienced – to choose from. Virat Kohli said he was open to the idea of opening if that added balance to the squad. It might be the best way to accommodate Suresh Raina at No. 3, followed by Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. It is unlikely they will field two legpsinners, increasing Parvez Rasool’s chances and, if the quick bowlers are to be picked on form, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will have an edge over Jasprit Bumrah.India (probable) 1 KL Rahul/Mandeep Singh, 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Manish Pandey, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Parvez Rasool, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Ashish Nehra, 11 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Jasprit BumrahEoin Morgan confirmed Joe Root was fit after recovering from his niggle, whereas David Willey, who joined the squad on Tuesday morning from Kolkata after scans, was not available for selection. With Woakes not in the T20 squad, England may bring in Sussex team-mates Chris Jordan and speedster Tymal Mills for early wickets. They might want to stick with four quicks and leave Adil Rashid out as they did in the last two ODIs.England (probable) 1 Sam Billings, 2 Jason Roy, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Tymal Mills, 11 Jake Ball

Pitch and conditions

Back to small grounds and flat pitches then, after a grassy Eden Gardens. With dew playing a bigger role in north India, the first T20 will start at 4.30pm to make it a more even contest. Temperatures are expected to be in the early 20s when the match starts and dip a little later.

Stats and trivia

• The last time India lost while chasing in a T20I despite Virat Kohli making a fifty was against England at Edgbaston in 2014, also the previous encounter between these two teams. Since then, Kohli has struck four fifty-plus scores in successful T20I chases
• Yuvraj Singh has won two Man-of-the-Match awards against England in T20Is
• Of the 206 T20s Kohli has played, he has captained in 72 of them. He has not led India though

Quotes

“At the moment the guys are feeling a lot more confident than they were maybe after game two. They did a lot of hard work but didn’t get a win under their belt, Looking forward to a three-match series potentially could be very exciting.”
“I have only opened once or maybe twice for India, but I have experience opening in the IPL. If need be then I could or I might not depending on the balance of the side. There are all kinds of possibilities.”

Dale Steyn is targeting June 2017 for a comeback, which could mean he will only turn out for South Africa during their tour to England next year. Steyn, who is five away from overtaking Shaun Pollock as South Africa’s top Test wicket-taker, was ruled out for at least six months after breaking a bone in his right shoulder during the second day of the Perth Test last month and hopes to begin light activity by February.”The first two to three months is just the healing phase so by the end of February I will start to be able to do things like light bowling, start swimming and all that kind of stuff,” Steyn said, during the match between the national cricket and rugby teams in Newlands last week.Steyn all but ruled himself out of the domestic season and the IPL but left the door open for participation in the Champions Trophy which begins on June 1. South Africa will play three ODIs in England before that, followed by three T20s at the end of June and four Tests in July and August. Doubtless, Steyn will need some game time before June but he insisted he will not rush his way back, as he has done before.”June is realistic for South Africa. I haven’t had a long break like this in a good few years and every season I go into it with something wrong, whether it be a little hammie or whatever. It will be nice to go into a season, starting in June, and confidently know that I am really strong and in a good place,” he said.Steyn was particularly satisfied that he left South Africa’s attack in solid hands and was impressed with the way they stood up in his absence in Australia. “We definitely out-bowled Australia and that’s why we ended up winning. Our batters all contributed in parts but at the end of the day, I think it was our bowlers that won it.”He admitted to having “itchy feet already” and will have one eye on the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, which he has tipped South Africa to win convincingly. “Sri Lanka are a good side but in South Africa – nothing against them – we should win,” he said, even hazarding a guess at the scoreline. “Two-nil, with one possibly washed out with rain.”Every member of the pack got a special mention from Steyn, who called their collective performance “unreal” and expects them to take that form into the Sri Lanka Tests. “I was sitting at home during the Hobart Test and I knew [Kyle] Abbott was always going to bowl well. He is one of those guys who bowls top of off stump all the time, he’s got a skiddy bouncer and that’s all you need in Test cricket. In Hobart, there was a little bit of assistance, so when you’ve got a bowler like that with skills like he does, you are going to do well. It’s obviously difficult to do it but he does it really well.”But then KG (Kagiso Rabada), he just ran in and bowled quick all day. That’s all you want from him and he strikes every now and again. And then Vernon [Philander] is quality, that’s why he got the Man of the Series, he can bat and we all know he can bowl. He hasn’t disappointed in four or five years of playing. The way we are playing, with our bowlers doing well, quietly, confidently, we should beat Sri Lanka.”