Story A Journey with England *UPDATED* (Teams Announced for First 20/20!!!)

[Pranav]

its good to hear that broad & flintoff are recovering well.

 

[formula1man]

that is bad for england but that means we can get straight into the action

 

[Highlander999]

Live​

12 Man Squads Announced for First 20/20​

In two recent press announcements both India and England have announced there 12 man squads for the upcoming 20/20 match. It must be said that in both teams there are some surprise inclusions.

England were first to announce their squad, from their camp, with Michael Vaughan having the honours.

England 12 Man Squad for 20/20 vs India

Phil Mustard (wk)
Alistair Cook
Luke Wright
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Paul Collingwood (c)
Dimitry Mascarenhas
Graeme Swann
Sajid Mahmood
Ryan Sidebottom
James Anderson

12th Man: Liam PLunkett​

Well that squad has caused quite a few eyebrows to be raised. Sajid Mahmood is making a come-back with Luke Wright also being given a chance at number 3. Graeme Swann also gets a look in. Overall, this England squad has a very strong batting line-up although the bowling attack does look a bit weak. Here is what Peter Moores said on the squad selection:

This England side that has been chosen for the first 20/20 is very young. I however feel that the exuberence and passion of youth will make up for any lack of experience. Don't forget with the likes of Pietersen, Collingwood and Sidebottom, there is a lot of wisdom present in this team. Luke Wright has really impressed me with his performances with Sussex and I feel he will shine at 3. Sajid has also been playing very well in County Cricket and if he performs well in the One Dayers there might be a place for him in the Test Squad.

Very soon after this, Mahendra Singh Dhoni called a press conference to announce India's 12 Man Squad.

Indian 12 Man Squad for 20/20 vs England

M. Dhoni (c, wk)
V. Sehwag
S. Tendulkar
R. Dravid
S. Ganguly
VVS. Laxman
I. Pathan
J. Yadav
Harbhajan Singh
Z. Khan
RP. Singh

12th Man: Sreesanth​

That Indian Team, to be frank, looks deadly. Dhoni, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Khan are all very experienced players. Here is what Dhoni had to say on the selection of this squad:

We are taking these two 20/20s very seriously. We feel that if we can really rattle England's cage early on, then we will have softened them up nicely for the Test Series. Sachin has expressed a keen interest in playing in the 20/20s even though he might be getting on a bit We've still included a couple of the younger guys like RP Singh and Yadav as we feel they will provide a lot of useful energy for the team. We've been training really hard for this and the IPL has been the perfect warm up for these two matches.

Well fighting talk from Dhoni. It looks like the Indian side are really pumped up and raring to go for this first match. England are going to have to work very hard over the next few days if they are to improve on their disastrous performance against the President's XI!

 

[Pakistani Army]

Nice squads there. I am suprised to see Sajid Mahmood back for England. For India I don't know what Laxman and Yadav are doing in the team.

Oh, well. Great detail and presentation Tom. Looking forward to the start of the game.

 

[thesweepmaster]

Quite a strong 20/20 squad for both sides but I would have chosen Strauss instead of Cook. Other than that it's a very good squad, they need to perform though otherwise they will get battered by India.
Good Presentation though

 

[freddiw]

good pres although remembebr to centralize

 

[formula1man]

both very strange looking squads, England i haven't really seen much of those players and india a very different squad to the one hat one the 20/20 world cup

 

[Jit]

for india 20-20 i wasnt expecting ganguly and dravid in the team

 

[PaulNixon1]

Make sure luke wright gets fifty or...

I RIOT!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

J Yadav in the indian team wow !!! thats a surprise...good presentation and KUTGW cant wait for the T20 match....gonna be exciting