With the series already in the pocket, Team India will look to affect a 3-0 whitewash when it locks horns with Afghanistan in the third and final T20I in Bengaluru on Wednesday. It’s going to be the last T20I for India before the World Cup in the West Indies and the United States and the hosts, in all likelihood, might try their bench against a Rashid Khan-less side at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday evening.
India kicked off the series with a six-wicket win in Mohali and then registered the highest successful chase against Afghanistan with as many wickets in hands in Indore. Star performer in both games, Shivam Dube will be once again the key when he steps out in Bengaluru as the venue is considered the batter’s paradise.
Focus on captain Rohit Sharma
The Afghanistan series marked the returns of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after a gap of 14 months. But both batters had different tales to tell. While Kohli, after missing the series opener due to personal reasons, forged a game-changing 57-run partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal in Indore, Rohit is yet to score a run in the ongoing series. The Indian captain was run out for a duck in Mohali following a huge mix-up with partner Shubman Gill. In the next encounter in Indore, he was knocked over by Fazalhaq Farooqi off the first ball.
Coming to Bengaluru, he will look to fire all cylinders and get India a ravishing victory when he walks out to open the innings with Jaiswal on Wednesday.
Kohli’s homecoming
Chinnaswamy has been Kohli’s second home and the fans will definitely gather in huge numbers to watch the former Indian captain in blue before returning to the venue a couple of months later in the IPL.
Sanju, Kuldeep likely to get game-time
Jitesh Sharma has been the first wicketkeeper-batter for the team so far in the series. Since the hosts have an unassailable 2-0 lead, Sanju Samson can replace the Vidarbha cricketer with an outside chance of returning to the mix.
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In the bowling department, India may replace Washington Sundar with Kuldeep Yadav who has been warming the bench so far in the series. On the other hand, the Tamil Nadu all-rounder hasn’t found any success with the ball in the last two encounters.
CricketNext’s predicted XI for 3rd T20I:
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
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