IND vs ENG | 3rd ODI: Firebrand England look to end tour on high as India garrisons its defence
It was expected that England would come strong at the Indian team right from the word go. For quite some time now, it has been the way England play and they continued to do so. Losing the tosses did cost India, but not as much as seeing its spinners being flabbergasted by the might and sheer aggression of the English batters. The shock didn’t sit well with them as both Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav were taken to cleaners in both the games by the Englishmen.
In the first game, India managed to win it, only after England decided to commit a harakiri as when even less than run a ball was required, none of the players settled down and played sensibly. In the second game though, it wasn’t even needed as Jonny Bairstow, who is probably going through the form of his life in ODI cricket made sure that even when the collapse struck, the match was done and dusted by then.
English batting: The real danger for Team India
In this final game, Bairstow and his opening partnership with Jason Roy remain the major concern for team India. Even Ben Stokes is going through a pink patch and thus Indian bowlers would once again have to be on their toes to make sure that the match doesn’t get out of their hands pretty early in the contest.
It has been a proven fact that the ball that goes away from the right-hander troubles the English openers and thus after Kuldeep and Pandya both being smacked, the Indian skipper might just want to test Yuzvendra Chahal on this pitch as well.
Scoring big is the only way out
Although captain Virat Kohli might say as much as he wants that the team is good at defending totals. But he can say that only after losing the toss, just to boost up the morale. But the fact remains that Team India’s strength is batting. If given a chance, Kohli too would have chased in the last two games. As toss is not in anybody’s hands thus the Indian batters need to make sure that even if they bat first, they post imposing totals above 350. Maybe take a cue from their opponents on how to attack from the word go.
India vs England: Match Details
Match No.-03
Date and Time: March 28, 01:30 PM IST, 08:00 AM GMT
Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar
Pitch Conditions
In the last game, a fresh pitch was used. In this game, however, the pitch might just remain the same s the gap between the two matches has been just one day. Anyways, the pitch at Pune is going to be batting friendly as it has always been and thus the team batting first need to be aggressive and get something above 350 to challenge the chasers. There have been no help at all for spinners in the night, although Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali have been on the favourable side of the economy graph, getting the advantage of bowling n the day when the pitch is still dry.
Team News
India
The only change that looks evident in the Indian side is the exclusion of Kuldeep and Chahal coming in his place. Res al the players who have been given a chance have performed extremely well and disturbing the combinations is not how Kohli operates anyways.
Strongest XI
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul (WK) Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal
England
The English team, even after having their two main players (Eoin Morgana and Sam Billings) out of the squad due to injury and resting Mark Wood managed to win a game with much ease. Thus in the next game too, the team might remain unchanged. The one change that England could and should do is to bring in either Mark Wood or test Matt Parkisnosn in place of Tom Curran as he has been very expensive.
Strongest XI
Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler(wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Mark Wood/ Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
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