With the series already sealed, India will be expecting their spinners to deliver while attempting to extend the total domination over New Zealand in the fourth T20I here on Wednesday.
The batting storm kicked up by Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan and the resultant 3-0 series lead has so far masked the underwhelming outings of spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy.
Kuldeep has picked up two wickets in as many matches, but looked a distant shadow of his bewitching self, conceding 9.5 runs an over. The left-arm wrist spinner had three expensive overs, giving away 32 runs, even as India limited the Kiwis to 153 for 9, riding on brilliant spells by Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi and Hardik Pandya.
Chakravarthy, who was rested for the third T20I, is a slightly different case as he has played in two high-scoring matches when the visitors scored 190 and 208. But his bowling lacked the usual zip. India could consider persisting with Bishnoi (4-0-18-2 at Guwahati) in the fourth match and bringing back Chakravarthy in place of Kuldeep.
While the bowling pieces in this series have still not entirely fallen in their places, the hosts' batting has been a different story. The top-order reshaped India's T20 batting in this series and the third match resembled an extended Power Play. Abhishek has scored at a strike-rate of over 300, while Suryakumar and Kishan have maintained a strike rate close to 230.
Such has been the fury in their batting that India have so far spent only a combined 25.2 overs while chasing 209 and 154 (363 runs in total) in the second and third T20Is. If the nature of the pitch and the amount of dew in Visakhapatnam are anything to go by, this match too will not be offering a different script.
The only out of sync piece, surprisingly too, is the poor form of Sanju Samson, who has been given his preferred opening slot in this series. Perhaps dawdling in the middle-order the whole of last year without role clarity has affected his rhythm, but the talent rush in Indian cricket has made it mandatory for Samson to come good on almost all occasions. However, pitiful numbers in this series so far -- 16 runs in three matches at 5.33 -- have made the ride rough for him.
However, little has gone right for New Zealand in the ongoing series. Their batsmen found occasional spark, but bowlers failed to mount a response to India’s onslaught.
That Jacob Duffy, with an economy of 10.30, is their most parsimonious bowler tells a story in itself, but his numbers shine bright in comparison to other bowlers. They offer a stunning read too. Matt Henry (13.80), Kyle Jamieson (14.20), Mitchell Santner (13.14) and Ish Sodhi (12.50) have all been taken to the cleaners by the home side.
The match will start at 7 pm.
Also read: India chase down NZ in 10 overs to clinch T20I series
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