India vs England 2025, 1st T20I – Match Prediction

India will take on England in the first T20I of the five-match series at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday. Both teams have a potent batting line-up and they would look to flex their muscles in the series, which is expected to be a run-fest.

India won their last T20I series against South Africa by 3-1 and they would look to carry the good show. On the other hand, England also registered a 3-1 series win against the West Indies and they would aim to tick the right boxes against India.

Suryakumar Yadav has led with aplomb since Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the shortest format of the game. India has produced positive results in T20Is as they have come up with a collective show.

The likes of Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, and Varun Chakravarthy have grabbed their opportunities with both hands. Mohammed Shami has made a comeback into the team after a long hiatus and all eyes will be upon him.

The Indian selectors have backed Axar Patel as T20I vice-captain whereas SKY has revealed that Hardik Pandya is also part of the leadership group.

On the other hand, Phil Salt scored 162 runs in four T20Is against the Windies whereas Jacob Bethell had also impressed, scoring 127 runs at a strike rate of almost 174.

Match Prediction: India will start the contest as favorites against England.

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 Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana

England Squad: Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Brydon Carse, Jamie Smith, Rehan Ahmed