Mumbai: Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra said that the India-England T20I series starting from Wednesday is going to be a "bat-vs-bat contest" because of strong batting line-ups on both sides.
The five-match T20I series between India and England kickstarts on Wednesday at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Both sides are extremely batting-heavy, with India having a group of fearless hitters, like Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya etc. On the other side features an equally powerful England batting line-up consisting of skipper Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and young left-hander Jacob Bethell.
Speaking to the Star Sports' during the programme, 'Game Plan', Aakash said, "It is going to be a bat-vs-bat contest. Because batting is a heavy weight on both sides. If we look at the clash, it is not a light-weight clash. It is a heavy-weight clash, in which, if you hit a six, the other team can hit two. And it is possible that if the pitch is right, both innings will be equal."
"The tempo can be set with the first match, and the other team will also look at it from the same perspective. You are also playing elevens. You are also worried about batting. That's why you play two-three proper bowlers; the rest are all-rounders. So, when both teams play the same type of cricket, almost a similar brand of cricket, then there should be a good clash. In my opinion, there should be a lot of runs," he added.
Aakash said that one should prepare themselves for a run-fest during this series and a lot of runs will be made.
"There might be a role of dew because it is still cold in many places, you might see dew in the evening. It is possible that the team that will chase later will feel a little easier to chase because in T20Is it happens anyway. But If dew comes, then it becomes even easier. So, from east to west, I think, batting will be at its best. It will be fun. There will be a lot of beating for the bowlers," he added.
Squads:
-India Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana
-England Squad: Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Brydon Carse, Jamie Smith, Rehan Ahmed. (ANI)