The battle of the top two teams in the 50-overs format got underway at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Thursday (June 12).
The Men in Blue after winning the Twenty20 International series by a 2-1 margin will be hoping for yet another series victory in the limited-overs format. They have played some terrific brand of cricket, especially in the white-ball format.
Their batters are in terrific form barring Shikhar Dhawan. However, Kohli is expected to bat at number four spot to accommodate KL Rahul at the number three slot.
Rahul looked in great touch during the opening T20I where he smashed a superb unbeaten century – to help India get off to a winning note.
Skipper Virat Kohli dropped down himself to number four might well turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the visitors.
The middle-order looks solid in the presence of Kohli, and the move might be crucial for India in the 2019 ICC World Cup.
Vaughan makes his predictions for the series:
Ahead of the opening ODI between India and England at Nottingham, former English skipper Michael Vaughan made his prediction for the series.
Former batsman Vaughan picked England to be the likely winners of the series by a 2-1 margin. Vaughan feels Jonny Bairstow and Liam Plunkett will be the leading batsmen and bowler for the home side.
Bairstow has been in sensational form in the ODI series against Australia. Plunkett, on the other hand, had performed well in patches. However, the consistency hasn’t been there.
From India, Vaughan picked Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya to be the leading performers with the bat and ball for the visiting side.
Rohit was short of runs during the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was dismissed without bothering the scorers much in the first two matches.
However, he smashed a brilliant century in the deciding clash at Bristol. He became only the second batsman after New Zealand’s Colin Munro to smash three T20I centuries.
Pandya has been an asset for India across formats. His all-round skills have given the stability to the Indian side. Pandya bagged four wickets in the deciding T20I. It was instrumental in preventing England from scoring beyond the 200 mark.