On February 2, India played England in the fifth T20I at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. This may be a dead rubber for India, who already had an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the series.
England won the toss and chose to bowl first in the series’ final match at Pune. They made just one change, replacing Saqib Mahmood with Mark Wood. However, India made only one alteration, benching experienced pacer Mohammed Shami in place of Arshdeep Singh, and mostly stuck to the same starting lineup. For those who are unaware, Shami played in the third Twenty20 International but was rested for the fourth after recovering from a knee ailment.
In patches, we played some excellent cricket. However, we need to have done it more skilfully. The game’s unique moments must be captured. The crowd is fantastic, the location is amazing, and the team has a positive atmosphere. Mark Wood returns, and it’s a solid wicket. They’re both high-octane teams. At the toss, Buttler stated, “Our team has four impact subs.”
The “high risk, high reward game” strategy is reiterated by Suryakumar Yadav.
It looks like a fantastic pitch, so we decided to bat first. I hope there won’t be a lot of dew. The stadium is going to be filled tonight. We insist that the guys assume that responsibility, and they are doing just that. Particularly when you play that high-risk, high-reward game, you will occasionally fail. “Shami returns for Arshdeep Singh,” Suryakumar declared during the toss.
Arshdeep Singh is replaced by Shami.
Since returning from his injury rehabilitation, Shami hasn’t seen much action. Before flying with the team for the Champions Trophy 2025, the pacer would like to be in good form for his final three games, which are ODI series.
Teams
India Playing XI: Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy
England Playing XI Philip Salt(w), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
India
