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India vs England, 5th T20I, Fantasy Pick, team suggestions

Mar 20: India vs England, 5th T20I, Ahmedabad

Pro Tip: Spinners have taken only 12 wickets at an average of 35 in this series, whereas pacers have taken 29 wickets at an average of 27.89. So prefer more pacers for this game.

Our XI: Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer

Substitutes: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes

Player availability: Though T Natarajan is now available for selection, Ishan Kishan remains doubtful due to injury. No other major changes in player availability after the last game.

We might not always be able to tip you off about late injury (or other relevant) updates, so please finalise your team after the toss.

Captain: Jos Buttler
Buttler has a tendency to finish off T20I series with a bang. In the final game of his last three T20I series, he has recorded scores of 67* (46), 77* (54) and 57 (29). Among the England batsman, he has the best average against spin in T20s in India since 2018 - 41.10 in 21 innings.

Vice-captain: Virat Kohli
Kohli has been terrific this series, scoring the most number of runs - 151 at a strike rate of 143.80. Since 2019 - among the top ten teams - nobody has scored more T20I runs than his 912 runs at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 145.22.

Hot Picks
Rohit Sharma: Although yet to fire in this series, Sharma has recorded at least one 50-plus score in his last seven T20I series where he has batted thrice or more. Thus, expect him to score big in this game. In 2018, when the T20I series was on line for India in England, Sharma scored a match-winning 100* (56).

Jofra Archer: In a series where bowlers have found it tough, Archer is the leading wicket-taker with seven wickets in four games. The likes of Sharma and Hardik Pandya have struggled the most against him across all T20s, having scored at a strike rate of just 66.66 and 104.76, respectively, while also getting dismissed thrice each.

Suryakumar Yadav: Yadav has been one of the revelations in the recent years of IPL. Since 2018, nobody has scored more runs for the Mumbai Indians than him - 1416 runs at a strike rate of 136.28. In his very first international innings, Yadav smashed a 31-ball 57 which also earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.

Differential Picks
Hardik Pandya: In a series where he has not been at his best with the bat, Pandya has impressed with the ball while being the most economical bowler for India at just 6.46. His 2 for 16 in four overs while bowling second in the fourth T20I was one of his most impactful bowling performances in T20Is.

Mark Wood: The fastest bowler in this series has been extremely accurate too, having been the most economical bowler conceding at 6.33. He has formed a formidable partnership with Archer and the duo has picked up 12 wickets, one more than the combined count of all other English bowlers.

Alternate Scenarios

  • Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes can replace Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow respectively.

  • Shardul Thakur can replace Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

  • Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma are the alternate choices for captaincy.