The two T-20 games of the PayTM series have seen India and England fiercely competing in the last five days. After tasting a comprehensive defeat in the first T-20 last week, India bounced back with a resounding seven-wicket victory on Sunday. The results from the first two games have nicely set up the third T-20 on Tuesday at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The third game is set to be played on red soil, so there is likely to be assistance for spinners on this wicket. Both teams have won games while chasing in this series, so the approach for the third game will be interesting since dew didn’t play a big role in the last game. Moreover, there will be no crowd factor as the remaining three games will be played behind closed doors.
India will be looking to get the combination right as they continue to search for the strongest XI for the World Cup later this year. Ishan Kishan shone on debut with a sparkling half-century, so he is going to get the nod at the top of the order. Surya Kumar Yadav didn’t get the opportunity with the bat on Sunday, so India is likely to stick with him for the third game.
Rohit Sharma was rested for the first two games, so he is expected to be back on Tuesday. It will be intriguing to see whether Sharma comes in the team at the expense of KL Rahul or Virat Kohli rests himself for this game. Rahul could also be moved into the middle order, replacing Shreyas Iyer, to make sure that both Sharma and Kohli play in the third T-20.
In the bowling department, India could be open to experimenting to see how other combinations work. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has somewhat looked at his best in the last two games, so he is likely to keep playing. Deepak Chahar could be brought in the team for Shardul Thakur. Hardik Pandya is likely to be the fifth bowler after bowling four overs in the last game.
For England, Eoin Morgan will be hoping that Mark Wood is fit for this game. Wood performed brilliantly in the first game, but he was ruled out of the second game due to injury. Moeen Ali could also get an opportunity in the third game since the pitch could assist spinners. In the batting unit, there are unlikely to be big changes for the visitors.
Toss could prove to be crucial again, but India will be hoping to get another challenging situation to test combinations in batting and bowling departments. Winning the game on Tuesday is crucial but getting to know more about the squad will be a much bigger objective on the agenda for Kohli and team management.
Predicted teams:
India: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal
England: Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer