And welcome to coverage of the first of the three-match Twenty20 series between England and India, starting tonight at the Ageas Bowl. It’s a new era for England’s white-ball teams following the retirement of Eoin Morgan. Jos Buttler has captained the format five times before, winning three and losing two, but this is the first match of a long spell that will take in the World T20 in Australia this October, next year’s India World Cup and, if successful and wants to go ahead, another World T20 in the Caribbean and the United States scheduled for June 2024.
England’s all-rounders – Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes – have been given leave from the series but will play in the three 50-over matches, while England’s top T20 bowler Adil Rashid has been given leave by the England and Wales Cricket Board to skip both series in order to make his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
In those absences there are opportunities for Phil Salt and Harry Brook to claim Morgan’s batting spot, Matt Parkinson to offer Rashid competition and Richard Gleeson to force his way into the side as a right-armer given England’s recent obsession with left-arm quicks hands in limited overs games. Gleeson, the last of the last developers at 34, may not get his chance at Southampton, with Chris Jordan likely to continue along with the left-back trio of Tymal Mills, Sam Curran and Reece Topley.
Rohit Sharma has recovered from Covid and will lead India from the top of the order, with a team of IPL ‘rock stars’ at his disposal including Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Dinesh Karthik. There are no Test players apart from Rohit, who had to wait out the fifth Test, in the match squad and there may not be a place tonight for the lightning-quick Umran Malik, but he, like Gleeson, should get his chance at the weekend, either at Edgbaston in Saturday or 24 hours later at Trent Bridge. And speaking of Edgbaston:
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