IND vs AUS: India's predicted playing XI for third T20I against Australia

After losing the first game at Mohali, India levelled the series 1-1 by winning the eight-overs-a-side second T20I in Nagpur on Friday, September 23. The third and decider game in Hyderabad on September 25 will be even more interesting to watch now, as both India and Australia would eye on clinching the series and lifting the trophy.

Even though the second game was reduced to eight overs, both the teams put up a tremendous show on display. Batting first, Australia amassed 91 runs at the loss of five wickets. India’s start was terrific as the openers pile dup runs from the word go. Though India lost a few wickets in the middle, the batters continued the momentum throughout the game, leading their side to a win.

Here’s a look at India’s predicted XI for the third T20I

Openers: Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul

Rohit Sharma was in great touch in the previous game, as he led the team from the front in the second innings, and scored a match-winning, unbeaten, 20-ball 46*. His knock consisted of four sixes, and as many fours as he positioned his shots towards the fence. He would look to play the shots freely again and get those crucial runs for the team in the beginning.

Rahul scored a half-century in the first T20I, and looked to repeat the heroics in the second game as well, but was taken down after facing just six deliveries. Rahul and Sharma form a terrific opening pair, and they would look to give the Indian side the desired start.

Middle-order: Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, and Dinesh Karthik

After an impressive Asia Cup campaign, the expectations from Virat Kohli had increased. But the stalwart has not managed to put up a remarkable knock in the series so far. He has only managed to score 13 runs from the two games combined, and would look to get into the power-hitting mode for the decider.

Suryakumar Yadav is currently amongst the leading run scorers in the T20Is. He was very impressive in the first game when he fell short of just a few runs to get to a half-century. He has been anchored India’s innings many a times previously, and that is what the captain would expect him to do this time around as well.

Dinesh Karthik showcased his prowess in the second game when he scored the winning runs for India. Karthik had just taken the field when India needed nine runs off the final over. He smacked a six off the first delivery that he faced, and followed it up with a four off the second delivery to ace his role of a finisher.

All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel

In the first game of the series, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was outstanding with the bat. When he entered the game to bat, Team India appeared to be in trouble, but Hardik made sure the Men in Blue crossed the 200 runs mark in the designated 20 overs. He would be expected to perform similarly with the bat, and contribute with the ball as well.

Axar Patel, the left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder, has been at his best with the ball. He has performed better than every other bowler from the team in both the games so far, thereby maintaining a brilliant economy and thus he will be the skipper’s go-to man.

Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Jasprit Bumrah

The bowlers have been leaking runs terribly in the series. They failed to defend the 209-runs target that India had set in the first game which led to the team losing the fixture. In the second game, they gave away runs in plenty which led to Australian batters keeping a run rate of over 10 runs and posting a big score of 90 runs in just eight overs.

Jasprit Bumrah returned to the combination in the previous game and proved why he is the best in business. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is likely to return to the XI, but he, alongside Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel, will have to take utmost care of the techniques in order to stop Australian batters from hitting.

Team India predicted XI for the third T20I: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal