Why is Harshal not playing today: Why is Ravindra Jadeja not playing today’s 3rd T20I between West Indies and India in St Kitts?

Why Ravindra Jadeja not playing today: Both the teams have made a solitary change to their Playing XI for this match.

During the third T20I of India’s tour of West Indies 2022 in Basseterre, India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chose to field in a bid to chase a target tonight.

“We will field first not because of the conditions but this is what we wanted to do as a team. We want to capitalize on the powerplay, this is a small ground, a six-hitting ground, but the average score isn’t high so we need to keep that in mind as well,” Sharma told ESPN Caribbean at the toss.

Wanting to bat first at the Warner Park on Tuesday, West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran got what he wanted in spite of losing the coin toss.

“We wanted to bat first as well. This is a ground where chasing is the preferred option. But now we need to put up a good score on the board and defend it. Credit to the bowling group [for bowling out India for 138 yesterday]. They performed well as a unit,” Pooran told ESPN Caribbean at the toss.

Why is Ravindra Jadeja not playing today vs West Indies?

Playing back-to-back matches, India have rested all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for this match. With Jadeja recently recovering from a knee injury, perhaps India didn’t want to burden him with two matches within 24 hours.

Batter Deepak Hooda, who has it in him to contribute with the ball as well, has been included into the XI in place of Jadeja. With Hooda scoring a maiden T20I century at No. 3 just about a month ago, his batting position will be interesting to see in this match.

Much like India, West Indies have also made a change to their combination as all-rounder Dominic Drakes has replaced Odean Smith in a like-for-like replacement.