Live Cricket Score, India A vs England, 1st warm-up game at Mumbai: ENG win by 3 wickets
Live Cricket Score, India A vs England, 1st warm-up game at Mumbai: ENG win by 3 wickets
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live updates of the first warm-up match between India A and England XI at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. This day-night encounter has lot of impetus riding on it as MS Dhoni will have captain written on his name for one last time when he will lead India ‘A’ squad against England in the first practice match on Tuesday. Dhoni took the cricketing world by surprise when he announced his decision to step down from leadership last week, giving Virat Kohli the reins of captaincy in all three formats of the game. The first of the two warm-up games will have Dhoni leading the side while the second game will see Ajinkya Rahane leading the squad which will be played on the same ground on January 12.
The focus from the first game will be not only be on Dhoni but also on recalled limited-overs specialists Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra. These three last played together at international level back in 2011 when India won the 50-over World Cup in India. This is the first and last competitive game all these three will have before the 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is, between India and England commencing on January 15 at Pune.
While Dhoni and Yuvraj have been included for both One Day International (ODI) and Twenty2o International (T20s) series, Nehra has found himself back in only the T20I squad. Moreover, Nehra did not play a single game for Delhi in the domestic season and hence it will be important for the veteran to assess his match fitness.
On the other hand, Yuvraj played for India in the World T20 in March 2016 and has not played ODIs since December 2013, losing his place in the 50-over game. His selection in the international squad came on the basis of his impressive form in Ranji Trophy 2016-17, where he scored 672 runs in five matches, including a double hundred against Baroda.
Apart from these three stalwarts, eyes will also be set on all-rounder Hardik Pandya, opener Shikhar Dhawan and also spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav who were in fine form in the Ranji Trophy 2016-17.
This match will also be important to see how England perform in the limited-overs given reference of the recently concluded Test series which they lost 0-4. Irrespective of this, the hosts should face a tough fight from England as they have new skipper in the new format in Eoin Morgan. With the new captain at helm, England will look to revive their fortunes and give a tough competition to the MS Dhoni-led side.
England team had a good T20 World Cup in 2016 as they stormed into the finals where they were beaten by West Indies. So there would be a lot of responsibility riding on this young England side to abolish their recent Test performances and contest the competition in a healthy manner.
Squad:
India A: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Mandeep Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashish Nehra, Siddarth Kaul, Mohit Sharma.
England XI: Eoin Morgan (c), Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jake Ball, Liam Dawson, Jason Roy.