T20 World Cup: England may again be a victim of upset, who will they face in the first match

The four-match T20 International series against Pakistan at home was affected by rain. Despite this, England will enter as a strong contender for the title and will try to win the title for the third time. The England team captained by Jos Buttler, who is going to face Scotland for the first time in the T20 format, will enter the match to be held at Kensington Oval as a strong contender for victory. During the match between Namibia and Oman at Kensington Oval on Sunday, some balls were coming intermittently.

Apart from Scotland, arch-rivals Australia, Namibia and Oman have also found a place in Group B along with England. Teams have to finish in the top two in their group to make it to the Super Eight stage. Things have not been easy for England in the white-ball format since their five-wicket win over Pakistan in the final of the last T20 World Cup in 2022 in Melbourne.

A year after their success in Australia, England under Buttler fared poorly in the ODI World Cup in India. The team finished seventh with three wins and six losses from nine matches, including a disappointing defeat against Afghanistan. In white-ball cricket, the team suffered defeats against the West Indies in both the 50-over and 20-over formats. England recently found some momentum with a 2-0 win in the rain-affected series against Pakistan.

England, set to open their campaign against Scotland, have fond memories of Kensington Oval. It is the same ground where England won their maiden T20 World Cup title in 2010 under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood by defeating Australia by seven wickets in the final. Since that triumph, England have become a dominant force in limited-overs cricket over the last 14 years, winning the ODI World Cup in 2019 before the T20 World Cup two years ago.

Scotland, playing in their third consecutive T20 World Cup, look no match for England on paper but will be looking to make a mark after comfortably winning the European qualifiers. Scotland won all six of their matches in the qualifiers and topped the points table, earning a place in the T20 World Cup.

tag: If the butler, T20 World Cup