IND v ENG, 3rd T20I, Preview: Spirited India aim series victory, Brits have all to play for in Bangalore

The Men in Blue kept their hopes alive in the 3 match T20I series against England by winning the 2nd match at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur by 6 runs. Fortunes fluctuated from India to England but in the end, the Indian pacers especially Jasprit Bumrah held his nerves and bowled an exceptional final over to hand India a sensational victory. With 8 required of the final over, the match was tilted in England’s favour with Jos Buttler in the crease but Bumrah bowled some exceptional slower balls and followed it up with a faster one to disturb Buttler’s timber.

Ashish Nehra was brilliant with both the old and new ball in his first three overs where he dismissed both the openers Jason Roy and Sam Billings and added one more to his kitty by getting rid of the dangerous Ben Stokes who was threatening to take the match away from the hosts. While Bumrah finished with impressive figures of 1/20 in his 4 overs, Nehra bagged 3/28. Courtesy their thrilling victory, tomorrow’s match in the Garden City becomes the decisive one. Bangalore has been traditionally a high-scoring venue and we can expect to see much of the same in tomorrow’s clash

Team News

India

Despite their nerve-wracking victory, Team India captain Virat Kohli will be a worried man ahead of the decider in his 2nd home Bangalore. He has been playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL ever since its inception and has many great memories on this ground. He will gain heart from the fact that KL Rahul came back to form with breezy innings at Nagpur. Considering the pitch his 47 balls 71 was an exceptional innings. Kohli is likely to open the batting with Rahul again and Pant is expected to miss out yet another time.

The batting order might be shuffled as India has failed to get going in the middle overs. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has suggested Kohli to send Manish Pandey in the No.3 position in place of Raina. He also wants him to bat Dhoni up the order. In both the matches, the Indian batsmen have failed to make their opportunity count even after getting off to breezy starts. Manish Pandey failed to read the slower deliveries in the previous match which stemmed India’s run-flow in the previous match.

Dhoni hasn’t got going either and has failed to unleash the big shots with which we associate him the most. In the death overs, India hasn’t been able to up the ante and the English bowlers have been exceptional with their change of pace. The bowling department looks pretty settled with both the spinners performing very well in the previous match.

While Yuzvendra Chahal was brilliant in the opening match, Amit Mishra made a spirited comeback in the previous match and got the important breakthrough of English captain Eoin Morgan. Jasprit Bumrah and Ashish Nehra was exceptional and Kohli will be very happy with the performance of their bowlers.

Playing XI

Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Amit Mishra, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra

England

Despite their heartbreaking defeat in Nagpur, all is not lost for the Brits as the Garden City awaits them for the much-anticipated decider at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Their openers have got them off to breezy starts but have failed to convert it into big ones. In the first match both Jason Roy and Sam Billings was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal in the same over and in the 2nd match only the bowler changed but both were again dismissed in consecutive deliveries. Roy has looked in sublime touch in all the matches he has played in the limited overs series so far and he would look to convert his starts into big ones.

The middle-order looks pretty settled with Joe Root and captain Eoin Morgan taking care of the middle overs. While Root has played well in the series so far, he has failed to press on the accelerator at crucial junctures which have resulted in his team’s loss in the previous match. Morgan looked sublime in the first match but failed to read an off break from Amit Mishra in the 2nd encounter and gave an easy catch to the deep mid-wicket fielder.

Root looked in no trouble whatsoever when Ben Stokes was there and rotated the strike along to put the more dangerous batsman on strike. Stokes was deceived by a beautiful slower one by Ashish Nehra in the 17th over and with his dismissal Root started to panic. He is not a man known to play the lofted shots on a consistent basis and it was evident in the 2nd encounter. Jos Buttler played some lusty blows but it wasn’t enough to win the match for the visitors.

The bowling line-up looks pretty settled but Liam Dawson who featured in the 2nd match might have to miss out considering the high-scoring nature of the Chinnaswamy surface. Liam Plunkett is expected to be recalled in his place and the remaining team is expected to remain the same. Chris Jordan has bowled splendidly in the two matches and would look to carry on the good work in the decider.

Playing XI 

Stats and Trivia

57- Jos Buttler is 57 runs away from completing his 1000 T20I runs

1- Ashish Nehra needs 1 more wicket to become 3rd Indian pacer after Irfan Pathan and Vinay Kumar to take 150 wickets in Twenty20 cricket.

5- MS Dhoni needs 5 more runs to complete 5000 runs in Twenty20 cricket.

58.6- Suresh Raina averages 58.6 in his last 6 Twenty20 innings at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. He has a strike-rate of 172.35 with a century and two fifties in those 6 innings