England is busy with their ongoing assignment of a five-match T20I series against India before they turn up their focus towards the upcoming three-match ODI series against the Rohit Sharma-led side. They will then turn their attention towards the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to take place from February 19.
England will face Australia in their first group-stage clash at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on February 22. They will then take on the Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan side at the same ground, against whom they lost their last ODI at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
The Jos Buttler side will end their group stage against South Africa at the National Stadium in Karachi. Their biggest threat will be against the spinners, as they have struggled against the Suryakumar Yadav-led side in the first two fixtures at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to go 2-0 down in the series.
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In the opening game, they were bundled out for just 132 runs in the first innings before the blue brigade chased it down with seven wickets hand and more than 40 balls to spare. They had a slightly better performance with the bat in Chennai, having put 165/9 in the first innings. They kept on picking wickets regularly, but Tilak Verma stood tall before them to enjoy the two-wicket victory.
Kevin Pietersen chooses England to coach in the future
Varun Chakravarthy has already enjoyed five wickets in two matches at an average of around 12.20, while Axar Patel celebrated four wickets in the same number of encounters at an average of 13.50. Washington Sundar and Abhishek Sharma also grabbed a solitary wicket each in a few overs.
The former England batter, Kevin Pietersen, was asked what his favorite team to coach was by a user on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) where he kept the options of India, Australia, and South Africa. Pietersen answered ‘England’ and was surprised not to see that team’s name among the options.
The Natal-born had an impressive career for the Three Lions, where he managed over 8000 runs in the longest format in 104 games at an average of 47.28 and a strike rate of 61.72 with the help of 23 centuries and 35 half-centuries at the best score of 227 runs. In the 50-over format, the top-order batter nailed 4440 runs at 40.73, shouldering on nine centuries and 25 fifties.
He was one of those rare batters to gain so much success in the shortest format. In 36 T20I innings, the batter clubbed 1176 runs at an average of 37.93 and a strike rate of 141.51, with the help of seven fifties at the best score of 79 runs.
He also believes that it won’t be possible for England’s aggressive batting, named Bazball, to be able to earn success in subcontinental conditions.
“Bazball doesn’t work against high-quality spin consistently! There is an art to playing spin in the subcontinent.” Pietersen penned down during a recent question and answer session on X.
England’s vice-captain, Harry Brook, reckoned that it had been challenging to face spin in the shortest format of the game.
“Facing spin in T20 cricket is probably the hardest thing in the game, especially because I always get out trying to smack it,” he said. “Maybe I’ve got to rein in a little bit, but we’ll see.” Brook addressed.
The third T20I of the ongoing series will be played on January 28 at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot.