India’s tour to England, from whatever has been evident in the shortest format of the game as seen recently, has been a disparate sight. A painful one. And at the same time, one that’s been riddled with more questions than answers! To lose a T20 contest or two is pretty random and normal. Happens all the time. It can happen to the best of the teams out there. 

But then the manner of the defeat especially when pointing to a situation of abject surrender- think of the 76 all out- which is the feeling one saw upon witnessing the recent T20Is, hurts. It hurts endlessly. 

Never in their recent history of playing T20 internationals have India been whitewashed in consecutive series outcomes, such was the case when first the team lost to Ireland and then, England. 

But now that the focus of the series has shifted to the one day internationals, with the T20Is already complete, one can say that there’s a sense of gladness. A newfound purpose and perhaps excitement as well; the very thing that had been absent all along on this England tour! 

How so?

For the one day contests, we are going to see Virat Kohli and Roth Sharma once again back into the action. Two outstanding legends of white ball cricket and easily the best in the present batting department of India shall be back to perhaps salvage some prided for an embattled team presently in the United Kingdom. 

Arriving this last weekend and having joined the squad already with the rest of their teammates, both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have already started practicing for the soon to begin one day tour of the series and were seen hitting the nets on Sunday. 

Both these batters shall be targeting some quality runs in the upcoming 3-match one day series. While Rohit Sharma has scored 846 one day career runs against England from 23 contests, Virat Kohli, on the other hand, has scored 1397 runs against the very same opponent from 38 games. 

The series features 3 one day international contests with the very first game about to be bowled live at Edgbaston on Tuesday, July 14, 2026! 

It ought to be remembered that the series holds great consequence for not just Team India but even for the individual talents in Rohit and Virat as with the Men’s ODI 2027 World Cup approaching, such contests allow enough game time to get back into the groove and prepare well for the big chalnge lying ahead.