India v England: third men’s cricket T20 international

Mark Wood on his series so far

It’s great that my pace has been up there and I feel it’s coming out my hand well but the accuracy at times hasn’t been quite where I wanted it. But when I haven’t played since August, it’s pretty much expected – I’ve played two games since then. Hopefully the more I play, the better I get leading into the 50-over stuff and the Champions Trophy.

Preamble

Cold water is so damn hot right now. You can’t open a browser without seeing a feature on the abundant health benefits of freezing showers, ice baths and other forms of cold water immersion therapy. It can reduce inflammation, strengthen your immune system, improve blood flow and give you a newfound respect for lukewarm showers.

England may come to view this white-ball tour of India in a similar way. It’s been extremely uncomfortable so far, and one or two of their players would probably turn the shower off if they could. But in one sense it’s a great way to start the Bazball Nights era. India away is as tough as it gets; England should be a healthier team for the experience. They might even strengthen their immune system against quality spin bowling.

That’s the positive take. The negative is that they’ll be facing a whitewash if they lose today, that mystery spin is their Kryptonite in perpetuity, that Eoin Morgan’s team were outliers rather than trailblazers and that AI is going to kill us all by the year 2030.

England came very close to winning the second T20 international, thanks in part to an amazing individual performance from Brydon Carse, so they still have plenty of reasons to be cheerful. Winning the toss wouldn’t do any harm either.

The match begins at 1.30pm GMT.