England face a must-win clash against a formidable India side to keep their series hopes alive in the third T20 clash at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
India v England – Third T20
28 January
Niranjan Shah Stadium
It hasn’t been a great start to the series for England, but they showed marked improvement from the first game to the second. Now, with the series on the line they need to win in Rajkot on Tuesday to keep the series alive.
India has an excellent record at Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (also known as Niranjan Shah Stadium). From the five games they have played there, they have one four and lost one. New Zealand beat them there in 2017. England meanwhile have never played a T20I at the venue.
There is no clear pattern at Rajkot in terms of batting first or second. In the five T20I that have been played at the venue the side that batted first has won three times. Meanwhile, the side that won the toss has opted to chase three times.
It is likely that dew will be a major factor at the ground. It is common under lights at this time of year which means the team that wins the toss may well opt to bowl first.
India
India is in excellent form at the moment. Not just in the current series but beyond that. Since they won the T20 World Cup last June they have managed 15 wins and two losses in 17 T20Is.
India’s skipper Suryakumar Yadav has a great record at Rajkot. In his one T20I innings there he made an undefeated 112 from 51 balls against Sri Lanka as he helped India set a first innings score of 228 for five. That was his first T20I ton and he will hope that memories of that knock help him fire for the first time in this series – he has scores of 0 and 12 from the first two games.
India’s spinners have been in great form in the opening two games. Varun Chakravarthy (five wickets at 12.2) and Axar Patel (four wickets at 13.5) have been the destroyers in chief.
Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of the best batsmen on the world right now, but such has been the recent form of India’s top order of Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma that he hasn’t got a look-in yet. He may well miss out again in Rajkot.
Tilak Varma is a man in outstanding T20I form at the moment. He has scored 318 runs across four innings since he was last dismissed, going at a strike rate of 182.75.
England
England may have struggled thus far but skipper Jos Buttler has been on fire with the bat. He’s the series’ leading scorer at the moment with 113 runs at an average of 56.50.
One of the keys to winning T20 games is the runs that are scored at the top of the order. An early partnership is always very helpful and thus far England have had no joy on this front with their openers, Phil Salt and Ben Duckett managing four and seven runs from their two innings respectively. If England are hoping for a different result in Rajkot a big knock from one (or both) of them would be very useful.
Jacob Bethell struggled in the opening T20I but was omitted from the second after feeling ill. Jamie Smith made his debut in Bethell’s absence, and he has been retained for the third game of the series after a solid performance in his first game – he struck 22 from 12 balls, the third-highest score for England.
There were some suggestions that England got their team selection wrong in the second game by picking only one recognized spinner. Adil Rashid was great as he took one for 14 in four overs. While England’s quicks picked up wickets, they were also very expensive – Jofra Archer went for 60 runs in his four overs. And that is not to say that he bowled badly (even though that is what the numbers suggest). He found plenty of edges (including one that flew over the sightscreen at long stop), but his pace meant he travelled far.
England have named an unchanged lineup for the third T20I, which means coach Brendon McCullum is backing his players to get it right the third time round.
Both Jofra Archer and Mark Wood are returning from long layoffs, and Wood says he is feeling better with every outing. Speaking to the media ahead of game three he said: “I’ve felt a little bit ‘hitty-missy’. I’ve done a couple of good things, it’s great that my pace is up there, but maybe my accuracy at time hasn’t been quite where I wanted it. When I haven’t played since August, that’s pretty much expected. Hopefully, the more I play, the better I get.”
Verdict: India
Expect India to get it across the line again. If England win the toss, they could cause an upset, especially if India bowl second, where their spinners may struggle to grip the ball if the dew is heavy.
But India is the form side and at home, they should have too much here.
