Agencies
Mumbai
The series already in their pocket, India would look to address their nagging batting woes against an England team gunning for revenge after feeling hard-done by a debatable concussion substitute when the two teams clash in the fifth and final T20 International here on Sunday.
The hosts will hope that struggling skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson are back among runs and adding spice to the otherwise inconsequential match is the resentment that England is carrying after the 15-run loss in the fourth game.
India’s 15-run win in the fourth T20I at Pune on Friday gave the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match affair, but left England exasperated over the choice of the concussion replacement who played an impactful role.
Fast bowler Harshit Rana replaced all-rounder Shivam Dube after the latter copped a blow to his head while batting and the former returned 3/33 in his maiden T20I, derailing England’s progress in the chase.
The choice of replacement was approved by ICC match referee Javagal Srinath at half-time leaving the visitors complaining as India had a more like-for-like replacement in Ramandeep Singh available in the dugout.
England captain Jos Buttler remembered thinking “who’s Harshit on for” as he strode out to bat but his team was also guilty of succumbing to pressure and squandering a perfect start on a flat deck at the MCA Stadium to concede the series.
England were 65/1 in the seventh over chasing 182 and lost wickets in a heap once again to Indian spinners Varun Chakravarthy (2/28) and Ravi Bishnoi (3/28), with the former stretching his tally in the series to 12.
However, despite the series in bag, India’s concerns remain the same — Samson and Suryakumar’s lean patch with the bat.
Samson, who missed the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Kerala, came into the series evidently lacking match practice and has struggled against the express pace of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer who have troubled the Indian opener
consistently.
With only 35 runs in four matches so far, Samson’s returns have been disappointing but it is unlikely that India would want to tinker with their opening combination at the top given that an all-out approach is a core principle of their T20 cricket.
World number four Suryakumar has gone without a significant score since his 75 against Bangladesh eight matches ago.
The Indian skipper has two ducks and scores of 12 and 14 to show in this series even though luck has favoured him during the toss.
‘Sky’ will be keen to shrug off the string of poor performances when he returns to his home ground Wankhede Stadium here, a venue which has played an indomitable role in building his reputation as a T20 specialist.
Rinku Singh’s 30 on Friday settled a lot of concerns around the swashbuckling left-hander, whose form and fitness were both in question going into the fourth match.
Hardik Pandya and Dube’s fifties powered India’s charge in the fourth T20I with the all-rounders filling in for the batters’ failure but another batting-friendly wicket here will give the Indians a chance to make amends one last time in the shortest format.
Spoilt for choices in the bowling department, India could rest and play both their front-line pacers Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami through the course of this series. But Sunday’s contest could be another opportunity for the team management to test the readiness of Shami who is back after a lengthy injury-forced lay-off.
For England, it has been a series of more misses than hits but they have been outplayed generally across departments.
Harry Brook finally got a big knock on the board on Friday but his struggles persist against spin and particularly Chakravarthy, while young guns like Jacob Bethell and Jamie Smith have had their struggles on their maiden Indian sojourn.
