Rajkot (Gujarat) [India]: India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss for the third consecutive time and elected to bowl first in the third T20I against England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Tuesday.
With a 2-0 lead in the series, India has the opportunity to secure the series victory in this match. England, aiming to stay alive in the series, decided to stick with an unchanged playing XI.
India, however, made one change, bringing in seasoned pacer Mohammed Shami in place of left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh, who has been rested. Shami returns to the T20I setup after an impressive run in domestic cricket, having last appeared in an international match during the ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia.
Shami showcased his skills in the domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he claimed 11 wickets in nine matches at an average of 25.36, and the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he took five wickets in three matches.
Speaking at the toss, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav said, “We will bowl first, looks nice and hard, don’t think it will change later as well. Rajkot has always been a good track, sure it will be a sporting one. We wanted to play a different brand of cricket but at the same time you need to understand the situation, and he (Tilak Varma) bailed the side out. We’ll look at it as a 3-game series from here, boys are charged up. Arshdeep is resting, and Shami comes in.”
England captain Jos Buttler, expressing confidence in his team, said, “Looks a really good surface, looking forward to batting. We would’ve chased as well. Looks like a good wicket, guys had a good practice yesterday and we’re excited about the match. Was a really good game of cricket, we fought hard and pushed them all the way. We need to play well tonight. We know how well India plays, they’re a strong team. We need a good total to defend. Same team but Jamie Smith will keep wickets, Salt has got a little stiff calf.”
Playing XI:
India:
Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Dhruv Jurel, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy
England:
Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith (wk), Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood