England have named a full-strength 16-man squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against India. Jos Buttler will return after missing three of the four Tests on this tour. The team will depart for India on February 26, with the first match scheduled on March 12. Meanwhile, the opposition are taking this series as a preparatory series for the World T20 to be played in India later this year. Keeping the same in mind, they have made some interesting selections in the squad.
England will be led by Eoin Morgan with Liam Livingstone being chosen over Alex Hales. Both Livingstone and Hales played the BBL recently and scored heaps of runs for their respective franchisees. Another interesting selection is Reece Topley who played his last T20I international for England back in 2016 in the World T20. Livingstone too, played his last T20I back in 2017. ECB have named two reserve players in Jake Ball and Matt Parkinson who will serve as backups should a pacer or a spinner get injured or sick.
England Announce Squad For India T20Is
JUST IN: England have named a 16-man squad for their five-match T20I series against India in Ahmedabad #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/zHPY48Wfu6
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) February 11, 2021
England also sent a full-strength squad to South Africa earlier this year in a bid to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup in India. Their recent fixtures against South Africa and Ireland were cancelled due to COVID concerns. Very recently, they played a T20I series against Pakistan which they drew1-1.
England have won the last 50-over World Cup has urged the management to think about their credentials as a T20I side as well. They finished as the runners up five years ago in India. They are currently topping the ICC rankings for T20Is among all the teams as well.
All the five T20Is will be played between 12 to 20 March in Ahmedabad. Thereafter both the teams will travel to Pune for the three-match ODI series.
Squad
Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
