3 player battles to watch out for in IND vs ENG T20I series 2025 ft. Sanju Samson vs Jofra Archer

Team India are set to host England in a five-match T20I series, followed by three ODIs, ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy. The first T20I is set to be played on Wednesday, January 22, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The second match will be played in Chennai on January 25, while Rajkot will host the third game on January 28. The final two T20Is of the series will be played in Pune and Mumbai on January 31 and February 2, respectively.

Jos Buttler will lead England in the series, while hosts India will be led by Suryakumar Yadav. Given that the Champions Trophy begins right after the white-ball series between India and England, both teams will be keen to perform well.

As the T20I series is set to begin, let us take a look at some key player battles to watch out for during the five games.

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3 player battles to watch out for in IND vs ENG T20I series 2025

#3 Varun Chakravarthy vs Phil Salt

Varun Chakravarthy last featured for India in the fourth T20I against South Africa in November 2024. He put up an exceptional display, ending as the leading wicket-taker with 12 wickets from four games, including a five-wicket haul.

The mystery spinner has been in great form recently as well, picking up 18 wickets from six innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Hard-hitting English opener Phil Salt against Varun will certainly be a battle to watch out for.

Salt, known for taking the attack to the opposition in the powerplay, boasts an impressive strike rate of 165.32 in T20Is. It will be interesting to see how Varun bowls against him in the power-play to counter his threat.

Interestingly, both players shared the same dressing room during the 2024 IPL season for the Kolkata Knight Riders. As they will be aware of each other's tactics, it only adds more spice to this contest.

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#2 Mohammed Shami vs Jos Buttler

The spotlight will be on India pacer Mohammed Shami, who is set to return to international cricket after last playing in the 2023 ODI World Cup. His last T20I appearance came back in 2022, against the same opposition.

Shami's comeback will be on focus, particularly against the dynamic English batters. Shami bowling to Jos Buttler is expected to be a mouth-watering contest. The English skipper has been a consistent performer and has scored at a high strike rate in the IPL as well.

The experience of playing in Indian conditions and performing will certainly be an advantage that Buttler will have. However, he has faced issues with the incoming delivery. With the ability to bring the ball back in and swing it both ways, Shami will pose a threat to Buttler.

The Indian pacer has been bowling well in recent times in domestic cricket and will be keen to make an impact on his return.

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#1 Sanju Samson vs Jofra Archer

Sanju Samson will likely once again open the batting for India in this series. He has been in blistering form in T20Is of late, piling on the runs consistently. Samson scored 216 runs from four matches including two hundreds in the series against South Africa in November last year.

Against an explosive and in-form batter such as Samson, English fast bowler Jofra Archer will have a key role to play. Archer is expected to lead England's pace attack. He is known to bowl well in the powerplay with his solid pace and dangerous bouncers. However, as Archer is returning from an injury, Samson will want to target him and cash in.

It will be interesting to see if Archer can regain his rhythm and get the better of Samson. Adding to this battle is the fact that both players have previously played together for the Rajasthan Royals and are set to reunite as the franchise roped in Archer once again for the 2025 season.