🏏England tour of India 2025: 1st T20I: 22/01/25 at 7:00 PM IST🏏 - Page 4

Karthik: "Hey Shashank, why do you say this is India's first serious t20 challenge since the wc win? They played and won against WC finalists SA in their own backyard!" -- Fair point, although both squads were depleted to an extent.

There is heavy fog spread on the Eden Gardens ground.

Thanks for the tag

All the best Team India

Suryakumar Yadav: We will look to bowl first. The wicket looks sticky, there will be dew later on. It will be heavier later on. The boys have been amazing. The preparations have been good, looking forward to this series. It's going to be great competition between both the sides. A good headache, we want to stick to our strengths.

Jos Buttler: Looks a good wicket, I'm sure it's going to be a good match. There will be some dew around. It's a great ground, it's an honour to play against India in these conditions. Everyone is in a good spot. It's nice to be together, a lot to look forward to. McCullum taking charge, he has a lot of experience. It's going to be a challenge, we are right up for it. There is some incredible talent in both sides. Saqib Mahmood, Brydon Carse, Jamie Smith and Rehan Ahmed will miss out.

Players standing for National Anthem.

Varun Chakaravarthy: I made a conscious decision to play all the domestic and all the other tournaments that goes around in India. I had a lot of games behind me, so that gave me the confidence in the IPL and when I was able to make a comeback for the country, that actually helped me a lot. That's why I wanted to play more matches - to test out what I was trying. Basically what I have observed is bowling more side spin in the highest level, the ball just keeps skidding on. I thought I have to impart more overspin in my leggings and googly, that's what I was working on. The last IPL I tried, it worked out 50-50 but in the 2024 IPL it was much better. That's how my progress has been. It took more than 2 years (to get familiar with it). (Bowling at this venue) The crowd supports and loves us. As I play for this franchise, they give more love to me. Eden is always a batter's delight but I am up for the challenge. Just stick with my basics. If it's my day, I am going to come up with the battle. If it's his (batter) day, he's going to do well. T20 cricket has grown leaps and bounds, all I can do is prepare well. I should not worry too much about the results.

Varun Chakaravarthy: I made a conscious decision to play all the domestic and all the other tournaments that goes around in India. I had a lot of games behind me, so that gave me the confidence in the IPL and when I was able to make a comeback for the country, that actually helped me a lot. That's why I wanted to play more matches - to test out what I was trying. Basically what I have observed is bowling more side spin in the highest level, the ball just keeps skidding on.

Teams:

England (Playing XI): Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy

The players are out for the national anthems. For England's, followed by India's..