Virat Kohli and Team India need to play their best playing XI to win this series: VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman has said that Team India cannot afford to take England lightly and need to play their best possible combination to win the T20I series.

Team India rested Rohit Sharma in the first T20I against England. They also went in with a three-pronged spin attack on a surface that was likely to assist the seamers.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Parthiv Patel asked VVS Laxman if Team India played three spinners because they were trying that combination or if they failed to read the wicket.

While stating that resting Rohit Sharma and playing Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul as the two openers may not have been a bad decision, the former Indian batsman observed the hosts will have to put their best foot forward to get the better of the Eoin Morgan-led side.

"I feel if you want to win this series, which Virat Kohli and the Indian team wants to do, you need to play your best playing XI. I can understand not playing Rohit Sharma because Shikhar Dhawan is also an experienced batsman and KL Rahul is also an in-form experienced player. But if you don't play the right combination against England, it will be very difficult to exert pressure because England is not lacking in experience," said Laxman.

The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out Team India cannot treat the England T20I side as pushovers.

"The Test series was a different challenge as the wickets were in India's favour, the England team had inexperienced batsmen but this England team is a very talented and experienced T20 side. So if you don't play your best playing XI, it will be very difficult especially since this was the first match of the series," added Laxman.

Dominating performance from England. Bowlers were clinical with their plans and batters showcased their ruthless approach. Will be a challenging series for Team India. Need to play with your best XI if you want to beat the number 1 T20 side. #INDvENG

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) March 12, 2021

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"I was also surprised that Team India played with three spinners" - Parthiv Patel

Team India fielded Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel as their three spinners

Parthiv Patel also expressed his surprise at Team India fielding three spinners, with the black soil wicket tending to favour the seamers.

"The Mushtaq Ali Trophy also took place here. The ball was bouncing a lot on the black soil wicket. Not too many runs were scored and fast bowlers took a lot of wickets. There were stats that spinners have taken more wickets here but that was when the matches were played on the red soil wickets. The black soil wicket has more bounce and I was also surprised that they played with three spinners," said Patel.

The former wicketkeeper added Team India could have opted to go down the spin-heavy route if they had two wrist-spinners, which was not the case in the Ahmedabad encounter.

"I can understand playing with three spinners if you have two wrist-spinners, in which case it can become an attacking option. But here you have Yuzvendra Chahal as a wrist-spinner and two finger spinners," signed off Patel.

India Playing three spinners. England playing only one. How do two captains read the conditions so differently??? But I do feel that both haven’t got it right....India playing one too many. England playing one too few. #IndvEng #AakashVani #Spinners

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 12, 2021

Team India's bowling combination was almost immaterial in the end as they posted a below-par score of 124/7. They would have struggled to defend that total even if they had more seamers as part of their playing XI.