Youngsters key as India challenge Eng in T20

Youngsters key as India challenge Eng in T20

Manchester: The battle between limited-overs champions India and England gets underway with the one-off Twenty20 here on Wednesday. While England’s new T20 captain Stuart Broad will hope to lead from the front after his heroics in the Test series, MS Dhoni will hope the youngsters carry their match-winning form of practice games into the international arena.
After a goal-fest over the weekend in the English football's heartland, focus shifts to cricket and a run-fest is expected when the reigning Twenty 20 Champions run into the current ODI Champions.
But at a time when England batsmen come with a bagful of runs in the Test series, the Indians are yet to hit their straps having reached 300 only once in the eight Test innings.
On a brighter note though, things are looking up for the visitors with the influx of youngsters. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have led from the front in the three wins in as many warm-up games leading up to the limited-overs leg of the tour.
But on a tour plagued by injuries, India still look thin on batting, more so as the team carries an injured Gautam Gambhir who is running against time to be fit for the T20 and the subsequent ODI series.
That brings the No. 1 and No. 2 Test run-getters into the T20 equation. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid may have to respond to the team's call on Wednesday, though with just one T20 international between them.
Tendulkar was in the eleven for India's inaugural Twenty20 against South Africa way back in 2006 and has opted not to be part of the format since. And though Dravid has never been part of an international T20 game, he – like Tendulkar – featured in all four editions of the cash-rich T20 league IPL.
But while Tendulkar and Dravid can step up to help the promising Kohli and Sharma in batting, India's bowling has nobody to look up to after Zaheer Khan packed his bags.
Praveen Kumar has recovered from his injury and will spearhead the attack in Zaheer's absence. It will be interesting to see who Dhoni chooses to partner Praveen: the untested pace of Varun Aaron or the rusty swing of RP Singh.
Munaf Patel is certain to earn his first cap on tour after a baffling four-Test 'cooling-off' period and Dhoni's reluctance to field four pacers may leave Vinay Kumar on the bench, with Amit Mishra most likely to take the fourth bowler's role ahead Ravichandran Ashwin.
On the other hand, England's batting looks formidable even in the absence of Ian Bell and ODI skipper Alastair Cook, who are not part of the T20 squad. But there is enough firepower in the form of Lord's double-centurion Kevin Pietersen and limited-over specialists Craig Kieswetter and Eoin Morgan.
On the bowling front, skipper Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan - who tore India apart in the Test series - will try to prolong India's misery with the bat. They will have able assistance in the form of Steve Finn and Jade Dernbach, with Graeme Swann's off-spin completing a formidable lineup.
India and England have so far played two Twenty20 internationals against each other with a scoreline of 1-1.
Squads:


England: Stuart Broad (c), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jose Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann.


India: MS Dhoni (c/wk), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Varun Aaron, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, RP Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid.