England v India: Eoin Morgan hopes World Cup clash is good omen
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England v India, first Twenty20 international |
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Venue: Old Trafford Date: Tuesday, 3 July Start time: 17:30 BST |
Coverage: Ball-by-ball Test Match Special commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, BBC Sport website & app; in-play video highlights and live text commentary on BBC Sport website and app |
England captain Eoin Morgan says he hopes playing at Old Trafford while the nation's footballers are in World Cup action again is a good omen for the first Twenty20 against India.
Morgan's side secured a 5-0 one-day series whitewash against Australia in Manchester on 24 June, during which England beat Panama 6-1 in Russia.
England play India at 17:30 BST on Tuesday and Gareth Southgate's side face Colombia in the last 16 at 19:00.
"I hope it works for us," said Morgan.
"It would be brilliant if it did - the last game there seemed to be a goal every five minutes."
Morgan said the atmosphere improved following England's World Cup victory that day as Jos Buttler guided his side to victory with a stunning century.
He hopes for the same in the first of three T20 matches against India.
"The England football team have made everybody so proud and fingers crossed for them," he told BBC Sport.
England 'haven't got it quite right'
While England are the world's number one ranked ODI side, Morgan said the T20 outfit, currently ranked fourth, "haven't quite got the right combination" yet as they build towards the 2020 World Twenty20 tournament in Australia.
Buttler hit the fastest T20 international half-century by an England batsman after he was promoted to open in a 28-run victory over Australia in the one-off T20 on Wednesday.
Batsman Dawid Malan has replaced injured seamer Tom Curran, while England remain without Ben Stokes, although the all-rounder will make his comeback as a specialist batsman in Durham's T20 Blast match against Yorkshire on Thursday.
Stokes is in the England squad for the following three-match ODI series against India, which begins on 12 July.
"These games are important in our preparation for 2020 because it allows us time to play around with the balance of the side," said Morgan.
"We will continue to experiment with the batting order throughout these next three games."
India 'look great'
India are ranked second in T20s and captain Virat Kohli said his side are "definitely" better than the Australia team that lost all six of their internationals on tour.
"We believe in our abilities, we obviously have a lot of Twenty20 experience and have just come off the Indian Premier League," he said.
Kohli added his side "looked great" during the 2-0 series win over Ireland this month, including their biggest T20 victory as they hammered the hosts by 143 runs on Friday.
"We expect England to come hard at us, and we certainly want to play some positive and hard-fought cricket," he said.
"It's going to be an exciting series, we believe we have the side to put up a great fight and if we win the crucial moments then anything can happen."