England's men's cricket team goes into a five-match T20 series against India starting with the first match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata with twin aims -- they want to put in place a possible World Cup-winning unit under Brendon McCullum who has taken over charge as all-format coach.

While Suryakumar Yadav's India, the reigning T20 World Cup winner, are hoping to cement their position as the best T20 side in the world, England are hoping to start a new era under McCullum in white-ball cricket just like they did in Test cricket with their Bazball approach.
In his first interaction with the media at the Eden Gardens as England's white-ball coach, McCullum said he would like to declutter England's approach to the game and make them play freely. Trying to win each match will be their aim but McCullum said his approach will be to get the best out of his players in all situations.
Obviously, we want to win every game we play, to try and be successful, and that's ultimately the mission for us. But our conversations and the language which we use within the dressing room is quite different.
It's about trying to get the best out of the talent that sits within the dressing room, trying to gel the guys as best we can, trying to work out complementary skills, and how we play the style of cricket that gives us our greatest chance.
NEWS
Show more newsI'm desperate for us to play a really watchable brand of cricket. With the talent we have, there's no reason why we can't. We've got a batting line-up that is as powerful as any batting line-up in the world. We've got gun spinners, very good fielders, and guys who bowl absolute rockets with the ball, so you've got options there to be able to entertain and give yourself the greatest chance of success.
Though McCullum was given charge of England teams in all formats last September, this is his first white-ball series as head coach because in between he had coached on Test tours of Pakistan and New Zealand while Marcus Trescothick filled in as interim coach for ODI series.
McCullum's England will start with the first T20I at Kolkata on Wednesday before travelling to Chennai (Jan 25), Rajkot (Jan 28), Pune (Jan 31), and Mumbai (Feb 2) for the remaining four T20Is. The ODIs will be played at Nagpur (Feb 6), Cuttack (Feb 9), and Ahmedabad (Feb 12). England will later fly to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
McCullum also wants to help England white-ball captain Jos Buttler to free his mind as he feels that the star batter has a lot to offer in the next few years.
Buttler has had two indifferent seasons before this as England failed to defend its title in the 50 Overs World Cup in 2023 while he was out for many months in 2024 because of a calf injury.
If you can let yourself go a little bit with nothing to prove other than trying to get the best out of those around you, sometimes it can free your game up even more and you can end up performing really strongly. Those are the conversations Jos and I have had and he’s fully on board with that.
The five-match T20I series followed by the three ODIs are crucial for England as they prepare for the upcoming Champions Trophy in Pakistan and Dubai.
England will open their Champions Trophy campaign against arch-rivals Australia at Lahore on February 22.
The series against India in conditions that would be more or less similar to what they will encounter in Pakistan, will be crucial in their buildup and McCullum is looking forward to testing his approach.


