ENG vs IND: England Cricket Board takes major step for Indian fans, alters T20 series timings

ECB alters India vs England T20 series timings to boost Indian viewership. Shreyas Iyer leads India squad; Surya, Bumrah and Pandya miss out.

England vs India Match Timing Change: Ahead of the T20 series between India and England, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has taken a significant step. To ensure that as many Indian fans as possible can watch the series, they have changed the match timings. It is worth noting that all matches of the T20 series between England and India were originally scheduled to start at 11:00 pm Indian Standard Time (IST).
Match timings changed
In India, T20 matches usually wrap up by 11:00 pm. Consequently, keeping fans engaged after 11:00 pm could have proven difficult. Therefore, to secure maximum viewership from Indian cricket fans, the England Cricket Board has altered the match timings. All these fixtures will now commence at 10:00 pm IST.

For context, the opening fixture of the T20 series will take place on 1st July at Chester-le-Street. Following this, the Indian team will face England in Manchester on 4th July. The third match will be held in Nottingham on 7th July, whilst the fourth match will be played in Bristol on 9th July. The final match of the series will be played in Southampton on 11th July.

After this, Team India will play a three-match One Day International (ODI) series, which will be held in Birmingham, Cardiff, and London. Of the three fixtures, the first and third matches will start at 3:30 pm IST, while the Cardiff ODI will begin at 5:30 pm IST.

Shreyas to lead the squad
The Indian squad for the series has already been announced. There has been a major shake-up in Team India's captaincy, with Shreyas Iyer replacing Suryakumar Yadav as captain, whilst Surya has failed to even find a place in the squad. Furthermore, senior players like Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah will also miss this tour. Vaibhav Suryavanshi has received a call-up to the squad, while Prince Yadav has also been given an opportunity.
India Squad: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Tilak Varma (Vice-Captain), Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, and Arshdeep Singh.