GameDay Squad Cricket Match Preview: India come up against England in the 29th match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in Lucknow on the 29th of October.
India played New Zealand in their fifth match of the CWC, and India won by 4 wickets. India won the toss and elected to field first. India started very well with the ball, and they had both New Zealand openers back in the pavilion with the score at 29/2 in the 9th over. The Kiwis fought back through Ravindra and Mitchell who put on 159 for the third wicket. The Indian bowlers kept the pressure on for the remainder of the innings and were able to restrict New Zealand to 273 from their 50 overs. India was off to a great start again with the bat and moved through to 71 in the 12th over before Sharma was dismissed. Gill joined his fellow opener back in the pavilion 13 balls later with the score at 76/2. India started to put a few decent partnerships together with Kohli being the main contributor. Unfortunately for Kohli, he was dismissed on 95 just short of another CWC century. India chased down the target of 274 with two overs to spare.
The top performers in GDS for India were.
Mohammed Shami – 149 points
Virat Kohli – 131 points
Ravindra Jadeja – 76 points
Rohit Sharma – 70 points
Jasprit Bumrah – 69 points
England played Sri Lanka in their fifth match of the CWC, and Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets. England won the toss and elected to bat first. England were off to a fast start and made it through 45 without loss in the 7th over before Malan was dismissed. That’s where everything went from bad to worse for England. The Sri Lanka bowlers soon had a steady stream of English batsmen heading back to the pavilion. Stokes did put up some resistance, but he was dismissed for 43 with the score at 137/8. Sri Lanka ended up bowling England out for 156 in the 34th over. England had early success with the ball as Willey picked up the wickets of Perera and Mendis. This was as good as it was going to get for the English and Sri Lanka didn’t lose another wicket on their way to the 157-run target in the 26th over.
The top performers in GDS for England were.
David Willey – 74 points
Ben Stokes – 61 points
Jonny Bairstow – 37 points
Dawid Malan – 34 points
Moeen Ali – 21 points
England vs India predicted XIs
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Gus Atkinson and Adil Rashid
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj
Who to play in your GDS starting XI
Batters
The three batters that I am likely going to start will be Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. Over the CWC these batters average the following points in GDS.
Rohit Sharma – 83 points
Shubman Gill – 51 points
Virat Kohli – 95 points
In GDS there are eight players combined from India and England that have the batter position designation. All eight of these eight players are predicted to play, five from India and three from England. Sharma and Kohli are the first to be picked as they have been in great form. Other than the duck against Australia, Sharma has scored 131, 86, 48 and 46 with the bat. This comes to an average of 78 runs over the last four matches. Kohli has been the better scorer in GDS as he has scored one 100 and three 50s. I’m leaning to Gill as my third batter. Even though Root and Malan average slightly more points in GDS than Gill, I’m just finding it really hard to pick any English batter at the moment. Over the last three matches, the three English batters have had eight innings between them and only one fifty was scored. Collectively they have scored 165 runs over these eight innings at an average of 21 runs. I’d much rather take my chances playing Gill than any of the English batters in this match.
If you don’t have the suggested three players in your squad, I have ranked the remaining batters for India and England in the following order. Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Shreyas Iyer, Harry Brook and Suryakumar Yadav.
All-Rounders
The four all-rounders that I am likely going to start will be Ravindra Jadeja, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, and David Willey. Over the CWC these all-rounders average the following points in GDS.
Ravindra Jadeja – 78 points
Ben Stokes – 38 points
Liam Livingstone – 35 points
David Willey – 64 points
In GDS there are nine players combined from India and England that have the all-rounder position designation. Five of these nine players are predicted to play, one from India and four from England. Jadeja and Willey are the first two all-rounders picked for me. Not only because they have a better average in GDS but also because I think they are likely to bowl most of their allocated overs. It’s a coin flip for me on the remaining two all-rounder positions that need to be filled. I’m leaning the way of Stokes and Livingstone as they seem to be more capable with the bat than Woakes. It’s always a risk playing an all-rounder in GDS that doesn’t bowl and that is Stokes in this case. He has looked rusty since returning from injury, but I believe he offers the highest ceiling of these three players. Livingstone just edges out Woakes as my last all-rounder and the main reason is because he bats higher up the order and offers a higher ceiling with the bat. There isn’t much splitting them with the ball either. Livingstone has bowled 19 overs in the CWC and taken two wickets, Woakes has bowled 24 overs and taken two wickets.
If you don’t have the suggested four players in your squad, I have ranked the remaining all-rounders for India and England in the following order. Chris Woakes.
Bowlers
The three bowlers that I am likely going to start will be Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav. Over the CWC these bowlers average the following points in GDS.
Jasprit Bumrah – 92 points
Mohammed Shami – 149 points
Kuldeep Yadav – 65 points
In GDS there are nine players combined from India and England that have the bowler position designation. Six of these nine players are predicted to play, four from India and two from England. To be honest, it really comes down to who bats first when making my bowler selections. If India bowl first, the above three bowlers will likely be my starters. If England bowl first, I’m likely to bring in Atkinson for Yadav. I have Siraj ranked just below Yadav, but he might also make it into my team for Yadav. That’s only if India bowl first and if the final pitch report suggests that the pitch will aid the seam bowlers.
If you don’t have the suggested three players in your squad, I have ranked the remaining bowlers for India and England in the following order. Gus Atkinson, Mohammed Siraj and Adil Rashid.
Wicket Keeper
The wicket keeper that I am likely going to start will be KL Rahul. Over the CWC these wicket keepers average the following points in GDS.
KL Rahul – 50 points
Jonny Bairstow – 37 points
Jos Buttler – 39 points
Like with the bowler position, it really depends on who bats first. If India bat first, Rahul is a lock for me. If England bat first, Bairstow and Buttler then become very good POD options. The danger for Rahul is if India bat second, he may not be required to bat much. That’s going by some of England’s past performances this CWC. With the bat, Bairstow is averaging 25 runs over the CWC and Buttler is averaging 19. I have a gut feeling that if England bat first, one of these players is due for a big score. I lean the way of Buttler over Bairstow, only because he offers a higher floor as he is the one behind the stumps in the field.