Yet to win a game in the ongoing tour of the UK, a desperate India will most likely include an additional pacer at the expense of out-of-sync leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi in the third T20 against England in Nottingham on Tuesday. England, on the other hands, is expected to opt for the same squad.
Under new skipper Shreyas Iyer, India have lost three out of their four games, including a humiliating 0-2 series loss in Ireland.
Bishnoi struggled in the last match as he bowled three back-foot no-balls, including two in the crucial 17th over, and was smashed for two sixes by Jacob Bethell off the two free hit deliveries. The leg-spinner, who conceded 29 runs in the game-turning 17th over in the second T20 International, had looked horribly out of rhythm during his wicket-less spell in which he leaked 60 runs in four overs at Manchester.
There were a lot of questions asked on whether conditions at Old Trafford warranted a third specialist spinner when Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy were already on board. At Trent Bridge, there is little chance that Bishnoi, who was even dropped by his franchise Rajasthan Royals in the last edition of IPL, will be considered for this particular game.
It is expected that a pace bowler will come into the 11 and Prince Yadav, with his ability to move the ball in the air and off the surface looks a better candidate compared to Prasidh Krishna, whose natural back of the length deliveries are easy to hit in the T20 format.
Arshdeep Singh got three wickets in the last game, including a double in his opening over, but he would also agree that the 27 runs that England skipper Harry Brook took off him were also a big reason for the hosts chasing down the target of 191 with an over to spare.
While the third T20 International will be a day-night affair, the Trent Bridge surface promises to be a good one for batting, where Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can enthral his legion of fans, along with the in-form Abhishek Sharma.
Having played 90 per cent of their matches on flat decks for the past six months, including IPL, the Indian batting unit is also struggling to cope with extra bounce, some off the surface movement and also the variations used by someone like a Sam Curran. Skipper Iyer, and one down Ishan Kishan have got a few runs, but they will be the first ones to put hands on their hearts and admit that they haven’t exactly dominated the English attack.
While Tilak Varma played a sweet cameo in the last game, it was more to do with the pace in Jofra Archer’s deliveries that he could work with. Otherwise, Varma has been kept quiet in the middle overs by slow bowlers and Curran.
In the last two games, India posted nearly identical scores of 189 at Chester le Street and 190 at the Old Trafford and on both occasions it seemed that they were 25 to 30 short.
The only one who has stuck to his original gameplan is Abhishek, scoring 59 and 43 playing 24 balls each on both occasions. For Sooryavanshi, the debut is now out of the way and he would like to put the English attack to the sword.
Also read: England beat India by four wickets, take lead in T20I series
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