IND vs ENG 2025: Why are Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami not playing 3rd ODI against England?

Team India (IND) are locking horns with England (ENG) in the third and final ODI of the ongoing series, at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday, February 12. England skipper Jos Buttler won his third consecutive toss of the series and opted to bowl first. The visitors made one change to their playing XI by bringing in Tom Banton. They did so by resting pacer, Jamie Overton. 

On the other hand, India too entered the fray with some changes from the last game. They benched all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, pacer Mohammed Shami and spinner Varun Chakravarthy.  Indian skipper Rohit Sharma revealed that Jadeja and Shami were rested for this fixture, while Chakravarthy missed out due to a sore calf. As a result, they went with Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, and Arshdeep Singh.

"I wanted to bat first and put runs on the board because we bowled first in the last two games. It was important for us to get a win in the last game. The fielders portrayed themselves well in the last two games, a lot of young blood. We want to continue to do well in the field. They are pretty new in their careers so we want to keep the pressure away from them. let them do their own and they have got a lot of potential. We have made some changes - Jadeja and Shami have been rested, unfortunately Varun has a sore calf. So, Washi, Kuldeep and Arshdeep come into the side," Sharma said at the toss.

Meanwhile, the English skipper mentioned that the India series has been a crucial preparatory platform for the side ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, later this month. 

"We are gonna bowl first today. Little bit maybe, it may spin a bit later. We have batted first in the first two games so it will be a different experience today ahead of the Champions Trophy. It's a decent wicket, we played New Zealand in the World Cup a few years ago, it was a black soil pitch and it played better in the second half. We have one change - Tom Banton comes into the side," Buttler sai at the toss.

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India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh

England (Playing XI): Philip Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Tom Banton, Liam Livingstone, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood.