India and England clash in T20Is

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will be aiming to overcome her prolonged form slump and boost the struggling batting line-up in the opening T20 International against England here on Friday.

Stars on the sidelines

Barring Mithali Raj’s remarkable consistency in ODIs, the Indian batting was a disappointment and it is something the team would want to correct in the three T20s.

India’s top two performers in ODIs — Mithali and Jhulan Goswami — will, however, be watching the action from the sidelines.

Harmanpreet, who has not scored a fifty in the shortest format since November 2018, will have to lead from the front.

Both openers — Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana — are in good touch but the team expects more consistency from them, especially the vice-captain.

The standout performer of the tour — Sneh Rana — is set to play her first T20 since February 2016.

Richa Ghosh, another 17-year-old in the team alongside Shafali, is also likely to feature in the playing eleven having done well in the home series against South Africa.

Besides Deepti Sharma and Rana, India has a third all-rounder option in pacer Simran Dil Bahadur, who made her debut against South Africa.

The teams (from):

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.) Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia, Indrani Roy, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav and Simran Dil Bahadur.

England: Heather Knight (Capt.), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Freya Davies, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Mady Villiers, Fran Wilson and Danni Wyatt.

Match starts 11 p.m. (IST).

The schedule: July 9: Northampton, 11 p.m.; July 11: Hove, 7 p.m.; July 14: Chelmsford, 11 p.m. (all times IST).