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Match 29 of the ongoing World Cup 2023 will see India take on England at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday. The Men in Blue will come to play the clash with an unbeaten streak and look to continue the momentum. Looking at the form of the two teams, it would be quite easy to say that India are favourite to win this game. England is in a pretty sad spot right now as the defending champions are looking like a shadow of what they were in 2019 and struggling big time. But after losing against Sri Lanka, the English side does not have much to lose, and that is a reason why they can be more dangerous. England is in a situation where it doesn’t matter anymore. So that fear or the pressure of being a defending champion and all the expectations and everything else are not there, and I think that would make England dangerous.
As far as the venue is concerned, it’s obviously Lucknow and it’s played well. I was extremely surprised before the World Cup started because they have relaid the topsoil. And not just the topsoil, actually, they dug up the pitch after IPL because of whatever happened during IPL and how the pitch played. But now it has played really well. I think it’s a very sporting pitch, where there is a little for everyone. We’ve seen it turn, there is bounce, there’s something for the Pacers as well, and for batters too. The ground itself is not the biggest, but the square boundaries are very big.
How To Fill Hardik Pandya Void
The other thing is that there is an opportunity to play six bowlers. Obviously, that would mean to compromise with your batting a little bit. You play (Ravichandran) Ashwin in place of a batter, maybe someone like a Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) or someone. But then if you’re going in with two all-rounders in Jadeja, even though he batted really well in the last game, you’re expecting a lot from Ashwin to come in at seven and contribute with a bat, because then you are left with, apart from Ashwin at 7, four bowlers coming in at 8, 9, 10 and 11. That is a thought process, but I like that very much. I rather go in with the same team — three seamers. Because as much as I would want Ashwin to play, especially in Lucknow against England, these existing rules, with only four fielders outside, I’m not too sure whether you can go in with only two seamers unless the pitch is an absolute turner, which I doubt it would be. It will assist the spinner, but I don’t think he’ll be an absolute turner. So I would go with the same team as the last game.
England Are Still Confused
With England, the challenge is obviously with Ben Stokes back into the side and not bowling. So they have had to rejig. Last two games, they made three changes each and their concept or their approach in One Day Cricket was to bat deep till 9 and 10. Adil Rashid would come at 9 or 10. And so that is the big difference in this England side with Ben Stokes coming and not bowling. That has just kind of messed with the whole combination and in the last couple of games, England had to go back to the old times or how they used to play cricket before with Adil Rashid coming at number eight — more bowling and less batting. And it can happen because the team is not playing well. They are not winning. It seems like they are still confused with their playing 11, or even with the combination that they want. The tournament is halfway through and it seems England still haven’t got their right combination or the right playing 11 in place.
India Have Ticked All The Boxes
India, as such, have ticked all the boxes. The last game was very important, where Indian batting was put under pressure again. The lower middle order or the middle order, like Jadeja, had to come in because he hadn’t batted in a while. And the last time, when he batted in the Asia Cup, he did not contribute too much with the bat. So it was good to see him bat. Obviously, with Shami coming, it seems like India are in great form. At times, you only worry whether India are peaking too soon or too early. But then I think if you look at all the teams, it’s India that have ticked the most number of boxes as compared to others.
Well, as far as India’s playing 11 is concerned, as much as I would want Ashwin to come in, I think India, in the absence of Hardik, would go in with the same team that is three seamers and two spinners.
Deep Dasgupta Playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
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