In one of the most anticipated matches of the 2019 World Cup, title contenders, India will lock horns with the hosts England at Edgbaston. The stakes for this match are high as England is still unsure of a place in the semifinals while India can seal their position in the top 4 with a win.
Virat Kohli's men will wear the orange-dominated 'away' kit for the first time at the World Cup while facing England. Eoin Morgan's team has struggled to maintain the momentum that they had in the early phase of the tournament. They suffered a shocking defeat against Sri Lanka in Leeds before being outplayed by Australia in their previous game at Lord's.
On the other hand, India has dominated every team in the group stage. They have not lost a group match in the World Cup since 2011. Apart from this, there are 3 more reasons why India will defeat England in this match.
#3 The strong Indian batting order
Though none of the Indian batsmen has been able to score a hundred in the last two games, they still managed to put up decent totals on the scoreboard. This shows that the Indian batting is not dependent on a single person. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma have been among the runs in this tournament, with Rahul eager to convert his starts into big scores.
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Virat Kohli has been sensational whereas MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya too have proved to be reliable in their respective roles. The English bowling attack which conceded 285 runs to Australia at Lord's will find it extremely hard to stop the Indian batsmen this Sunday.
#2 England's recent struggles
When the 2019 World Cup began, everyone expected England to emerge as the best team of the tournament but the hosts have suffered defeats to lower-ranked teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the group stage. If they fail to win one of their remaining two games, they will be on the verge of being eliminated in the group stage itself.
While the defeat against Sri Lanka was by a close margin, the Australian team was clearly the better side at Lord's the other day.
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The team's big names, Eoin Morgan, James Vince and Joe Root looked clueless against Australia's left-arm fast bowlers. Also, their bowlers and fielders leaked runs to an inexperienced finisher, Alex Carey, who had no support on the other end.
Their batting order has proved to be brittle while they are chasing a target. The fact that England's all three defeats have come while chasing solidifies the above statement. In case, India bats first and puts run on the board, England will be under severe pressure.
#1 India's bowling attack
The reason behind India's enormous success in the 2019 World Cup is their bowling attack. The trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav has proven to be very lethal in English conditions. The addition of Bhuvneshwar Kumar had given stability to the bowling attack. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury in the match against Pakistan which forced Virat Kohli to bring Mohammad Shami in the playing XI.
The new avatar of Mohammad Shami has troubled the opposition batsmen a lot. He has played only two matches in the World Cup still he has taken more wickets than Kuldeep Yadav and Vijay Shankar combined. This shows that the inclusion of Shami has boosted team India's bowling strength and, the same will be visible when India will take field against England tomorrow.
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Which Indian bowler do you think will take the most English wickets? Share your views in the comments box below.
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