SANJJEEV K SAMYAL
The football World Cup has reduced everything to a side show in this part of the world. With the home of Manchester United just a stone’s throw away from the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, it goes without saying that football fever has hit this town. Everything is expected to come to a standstill on Tuesday evening when the Harry Kane-led side takes on Colombia.
The cricket organisers are not complaining though. It’s a testament to the quality of England and India’s teams that they even though the opening Twenty20 International is clashing with England’s pre-quarterfinal, there are enough takers for cricket as well. “The game versus Australia here was sold out last week, but this is going to be bigger,” said a Lancashire Cricket official when asked about the demand for the tickets.
If it was any other time, the upcoming limited overs contests would have been the flavour of the English summer. When you have such prizefighters as Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Suresh Raina pitted against Jonny Bairstow, Jos Butter, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy and Alex Hales, it makes for compulsive watching.
On current strength and form, Eoin Morgan and Virat Kohli’s teams are the two best outfits in world cricket. Man for man they are evenly matched. Both teams have depth, are balanced and more importantly their key players are on top of their games.
With England’s comprehensive thumping of Australia still fresh in memory, everyone here seems to be raving about how strong the home team is. They
MANCHESTER:
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