The Suryakumar Yadav-led India National Cricket Team made a massive change to their playing XI for the third T20I of the five-match series against the England National Cricket Team on Tuesday, January 28, at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.
Suryakumar Yadav revealed at the toss that the premier pacer Mohammed Shami has been included in the playing XI in place of the left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh.
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Suryakumar Yadav reveals the reason behind Arshdeep Singh’s omission
The India skipper Suryakumar Yadav got lucky for the third time in the series as the coin once again fell in his favor. India won the toss and chose to bowl first in the match.
Speaking to Ravi Shastri at the toss, Suryakumar Yadav said that they played according to the situation in the previous game and lauded Tilak Varma for his heroics.
He further said that the team management has decided to rest Arshdeep Singh for the game with the premier pacer Mohammed Shami making his comeback to the side.
“We will bowl first, looks nice and hard, don’t think it will change later as well. Rajkot has always been a good track, sure it will be a sporting one.
“We wanted to play a different brand of cricket but at the same time you need to understand the situation and he (Tilak) bailed the side out. We’ll look at it as a 3 game series from here, boys are charged up. Arshdeep is resting, Shami comes in,” India captain said.
Notably, Mohammed Shami will be donning the India shirt after 14 months (435 days to be exact). He last featured in the India playing XI in international cricket during the final of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
It was expected that Mohammed Shami would start in the T20I series against England at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, but that didn’t happen as Arshdeep Singh was chosen as the sole pacer in the line-up. India fielded the same playing XI in the second game, which meant that Shami had to miss out.
Ahead of the third T20I, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had revealed that Mohammed Shami was fully fit, but his participation was in the hands of skipper Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir.
India clinched a thrilling victory in 2nd T20I
India clinched a 2-wicket win over England in the second T20I in Chennai. England, after being invited to bat first, posted 165/9 on the board.
Jos Buttler (45 off 30) once again led from the front and was well supported by Brydon Carse’s explosive 31 off 17. India spinners, led by Axar Patel (2/32) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/38) did a good job while, while Washington Sundar, Abhishek Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Arshdeep Singh also chipped in with crucial breakthroughs.
In the second innings, India’s chase got off to a poor start as key wickets fell in the powerplay. The hosts lost half the side before the end of the 10th over and were under immense pressure. However, Tilak Varma emerged as the lone warrior and, with his unbeaten 72 off 55 balls, guided India to victory with four balls to spare.
IND vs ENG Playing XIs For 3rd T20I
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Dhruv Jurel, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy
England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith(w), Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
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