India’s Predicted Playing XI for 3rd T20I against New Zealand

India’s Predicted Playing XI for 3rd T20I: Sportsrush presents before you India’s playing XI for the third T20I against New Zealand.

Having won the second T20I against New Zealand by 7 wickets, India have kept the series alive at 1-1. Going into the last match of their tour of Australia and New Zealand, another victory would able India to culminate both the tours without losing any series across formats.

On the other hand, New Zealand were unequivocally not as weak as they looked when India defeated them 1-4 in the ODI series. The Kiwis would be desperate to return the favour by beating India in the T20I series.

The last T20I is scheduled to be played tomorrow at Hamilton, a venue where the hosts had bundled out India for 92 in the fourth ODI. While New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will be looking to put India under testing conditions, the Indians would want to forget their recent awful show at Hamilton.

Apart from laying emphasis on their tendency to experiment considering the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in mind, the Indians will also be aware about the fact that the series is on the line.

India’s Predicted Playing XI for 3rd T20I

1) Top-order – Unlike the ODI series, India haven’t gained an unassailable lead this time round. As a result, it becomes imperative for them to take the field with the formidable opening pair of captain Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

While left-handed batsman Rishabh Pant failed to impress in the first T20I at Wellington, he scored a confident 40* (28) with the help of four fours and a six in a match-winning 44-run stand for the fourth wicket with wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Set to bat at No. 3, Pant would want to contribute with another responsible innings.

2) Middle-order – Having scored 27 and 14 in the first two T20Is, all-rounder Vijay Shankar might face the axe ahead of the third match. With Sharma not opting to use his services as a bowler on both the occasions, it might go against him.

The fact that India have all-rounder Kedar Jadhav in the squad should press his case as an all-rounder ahead of Shankar. Because his bowling has it in it to break a partnership, he brings an added advantage for the captain. In a decider like the third T20I, the team management would not want to play only five bowling options.

In Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya, the team has batsmen who can both consolidate in the middle-overs and take on the opposition bowlers when required.

3) Bowlers – There are bleak chances of India experimenting much with their new-ball bowlers especially after how Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed bowled in the last match. While the latter faced the probability to being benched after the first T20I, one doesn’t see him not playing after registering bowling figures of 4-0-27-2.

Talking about the spinners, Krunal Pandya dismissed Colin Munro, Daryl Mitchell and captain Kane Williamson within a span of 10 balls yesterday. His spell didn’t let the hosts recover from what was a minor batting collapse.

In a crucial match like tomorrow’s, India might be looking at playing Kuldeep Yadav ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal just to make sure that the opposition batsmen struggle in the middle overs.

India’s Predicted Playing XI for 3rd T20I – 1) Rohit Sharma (c) 2) Shikhar Dhawan 3) Rishabh Pant 4) MS Dhoni (wk) 5) Kedar Jadhav 6) Dinesh Karthik 7) Hardik Pandya 8) Krunal Pandya 9) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 10) Kuldeep Yadav 11) Khaleel Ahmed