England vs India 2018: Predicted result of the T20I, ODI and Test series

India’s much-awaited tour of England will commence early in July as Virat Kohli and his men are already in the United Kingdom. They last toured the country back in 2014 for 5 Tests and as many One-Day Internationals and concluded it with a one-off T20I. This time around, both the boards have decided to trim down the number of 50-over matches and have compensated it with a three-match T20I series. However, ahead of the main tussle, the Men in Blue will face Ireland in the shortest format of the game in a couple of matches.

The Ireland T20Is will be played on June 27 and June 29 and the Indian team is expected to trump the home side comfortably. A full-strength squad has been picked for the two-match series and the same group will face England in the following contest.

Team India will not start their tour with the Tests which has been a norm. The T20I and ODI series will give the team just the kind of time they need to acclimatize to the conditions before the real test in whites. All the three series’ are expected to be entertaining as two of the top teams are fighting it out across all the formats.

Here we predict the outcome of all the series:

1. T20I series

No. of matches to be played: 3

T20I Rankings – England: 5; India: 3

The tour will begin with the T20I series and both the teams are facing each other in the format for the first time almost in last 18 months. Last time they met was in February 2017 when England had toured India and the hosts had managed to win the series 2-1. However, the series was a close one before the visitors crumbled to the spin of Yuzvendra Chahal in the decider.

Dissecting the squads

England: The hosts resemble a strong top order with Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales and all three of them are expected to play in the starting XI. The trio is known to tear apart any bowling attack on their day and they play fearless cricket as they always know that their middle-order is more than capable of recovering from any position. The skipper Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali are exceptional hitters of a cricket ball as the likes of David Willey and Liam Plunkett are also known to tonk the ball.

The pace bowling resources are also good enough with the bowling attack likely to be led by David Willey. England also have Liam Plunkett, Jake Ball, Chris Jordan and Curran brothers up their sleeves. Undoubtedly, Adil Rashid will be the key for them in the spin-bowling department and Moeen Ali can also fill in with 4 overs.

England squad: Eoin Morgan (C), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey

India: The Indian team is the perfect opposition for England in the shorter formats of the game. The openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have the ability to take the game away from the opposition in no time while the technical master and their skipper Virat Kohli averages a staggering 50.85 in T20Is. Suresh Raina and KL Rahul have also returned to the set up now even as the finisher in MS Dhoni awaits at number 6 to hunt the leather at the death.

They even have the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey waiting in the wings with Hardik Pandya playing as the all-rounder. Very few must have forgotten Karthik’s heroics in the Nidahas Trophy final and he will surely play in the starting XI it seems.

The bowling attack also looks decent as Kohli has a number of options to look for with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah most likely to lead the way. All eyes will also be on the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal who did so well in South Africa. It remains to be seen if both will play on the flat decks in England.

India squad: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav

Series Prediction: Both the teams match strength to strength but the closely fought series is expected to go India’s way by the margin of 2-1.