Having already clinched the series against Afghanistan with a commanding win on Sunday, Team India will be entering the third and final T20I in Bengaluru on Wednesday in a relaxed state of mind with room for some experimentation.
India find themselves 2-0 up in the series following back-to-back victories over the Afghan Atalan, at Mohali’s IS Bindra PCA Stadium and Indore’s Holkar Stadium respectively. Both matches witnessed the Indian team elect to field after winning the toss and chase targets down with six wickets and plenty of deliveries to spare.
Both Axar Patel and Shivam Dube played crucial roles in the victories. Axar registered figures of 2/23 and 2/17 in Mohali and Indore respectively to strangulate the Afghan batters in the middle overs, finishing the pick of the bowlers on both occasions. Dube, on the other hand, doesn’t have an average in this series, staying unbeaten on 60 and 63 respectively and finishing the job on both occasions.
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The two were joined by rising star Yashasvi Jaiswal in Indore, with the young opener smashing a 34-ball 68 after being benched for the first game to assert himself as the first-choice opening partner for skipper Rohit — who returned to the T20I format for the first time since November 2022, but has endured the ignominy of back-to-back ducks.
Read | Jaiswal joins Dube and Axar’s party in Indore, highlights India’s problem of plenty
Also making his return to the Indian team in the shortest format for the first time since the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia is Virat Kohli, who unlike fellow batting stalwart Rohit, managed to make an impact with the bat with a 16-ball 29. Unlike his struggles in the format in 2022, Kohli decided to take on the Afghan bowlers from the word ‘go’, highlighting a transformed approach towards T20Is in the build-up to the World Cup that takes place in the West Indies and USA in June.
With the third T20I effectively reduced to a dead rubber after consecutive wins for India, the Men in Blue have the luxury of making a few tweaks here and there in their lineup and give an opportunity to some of their fringe players keeping the World Cup in mind. Wednesday’s fixture, after all, will be India’s final in the format before the T20 World Cup. India face England in a five-Test series next which will be followed by the Indian Premier League that concludes right before the mega event.
Here are some of the things that skipper Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid might target in Bengaluru on Wednesday:
Give Sanju Samson an opportunity
Samson managed to get included in the T20I squad for the Afghanistan series after his heroics in South Africa, where he struck a match-winning ton — his first for India — in the ODI series decider in Paarl. Jitesh Sharma currently remains India’s first choice for the wicketkeeper-batter’s slot as far as the T20 World Cup squad is concerned, though he too might have to vacate it should Rishabh Pant prove his fitness in this year’s Indian Premier League.
However, with the series already won, it wouldn’t hurt the Indian team if they gave Sanju Samson a shot against the Afghan bowlers. A solid knock on Wednesday could take the Rajasthan Royals skipper closer to realising his dream of representing the country in a global event.
Play Kuldeep Yadav alongside Ravi Bishnoi
Axar has been among India’s standout performers in this series so far and it will be very difficult for the Indian team management to leave him out of the T20I side from hereon, even if his direct competition happens to be star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja himself. However, with the series secured, the team management could look at playing Kuldeep Yadav alongside Ravi Bishnoi in the third T20I in Bengaluru.
While Kuldeep was Inda’s standout bowler in 2023 and finished as the highest ODI wicket-taker that year, Bishnoi has surged ahead of him in the shortest format with his recent performances since the home series against Australia. An opportunity on Wednesday will not only add variety to the Indian attack, but will also give 29-year-old Kuldeep the opportunity to stake claim in the T20I side, which at the moment doesn’t appear a certainty.
Give Rohit-Kohli opening pair a shot?
This might appear a tad unlikely especially after Jaiswal’s brilliant knock on Sunday. However, there are quite a few experts and fans out there hoping to see Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli open for the Indian team in this year’s T20 World Cup. For that to happen, the two batting stars should ideally open in the final match before the mega event, and with the series already clinched, they have the perfect opportunity to do so.
“In New York or the West Indies, the pitches will be such that there will be more chances of runs getting scored in the first six overs. So ideally, you want Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to be together from the start. If you have to follow that template, start it now,” former India opener Aakash Chopra had said recently.
Either of Jaiswal, Gill of Tilak Varma could play at the No 3 spot should Kohli move up the order.
Maintain undefeated run against Afghans
Last, but certainly not the least, Team India enjoy an undefeated run against Afghanistan in international cricket since the two sides first met in the 2010 T20 World Cup match in St Lucia. India and Afghanistan have faced each other 12 times across formats — seven T20Is and four T20Is besides a one-off Test in Bengaluru that happened to be the Afghan Atalan’s historic debut in the format.
And only twice have the Afghans managed to avoid a defeat against the Men in Blue — in the Super Four match of the 2018 Asia Cup (ODI) and the final of the Asian Games men’s cricket competition (T20I) last October. The Asia Cup match ended in a tie while the Hangzhou Asian Games final ended in a washout.
Preserving their unbeaten run against the Ibrahim Zadran-led side thus will be a motivating factor in the dead rubber.
from Firstpost Sports Latest News https://ift.tt/AiKBlgP
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