India vs Australia | India’s Predicted XI for the third and final T20I in Sydney

India vs Australia | India’s Predicted XI for the third and final T20I in Sydney

no photo

|

Getty

India have never lost the third match of a bilateral T20I series, winning all the nine games they featured in. And today, as the team will take the field at SCG, they will have less burden of that, but the responsibility of living up to the hype that had been created by India’s amazing run of form.

Openers

KL Rahul: If you have remembered the brief footage that played out just after rain returned for the second time at MCG, KL Rahul was coming with Shikhar Dhawan to open the innings, which indicates that Rohit Sharma may bat at No.4 - a position where he bats in the IPL. How much will that help India is open to being seen though.

Shikhar Dhawan: The southpaw has started the series on a good note and Gabba’s big boundaries didn’t stop him from scoring runs easily. After a washed out game at MCG, he must have been in a great space to continue the 2018 juggernaut which has seen him scoring the highest run in the world in the shortest format of the game.

Middle-order

Virat Kohli: The Indian skipper demoting himself to No.4 position didn’t work out as he averages 45 when he bats in the top three and that drops to 27 outside of it. As India will, in all probability, slot Rahul at the top, Kohli will be back at his preferred position.

Rohit Sharma: The Indian vice-captain’s inconsistency in the T20 format is one of the major concerns for the Indian team and despite being the second highest run-scorer in the T20Is, his batting is too erratic to be trusted upon. Time is ripe for him to make a statement at SCG and if he bats in the middle-over, he will have to anchor the innings as well.

Rishabh Pant (wk): After playing a stupid shot to get out in the last T20I against Windies, the wicket-keeper committed the reverse scoop once again in the Brisbane T20I to be dismissed in the same way. Can it be called overconfidence or the general intuition of modern-day cricketers? Whatever it was, Pant needs to pick up the lessons quickly.

Dinesh Karthik: Here is a player, who has all the ability to be a quintessential T20 cricketer and can boss any team with his superb hard-hitting ability, but Dinesh Karthik’s job is way more than that. He is technically sound and has to don the role of finisher that lander with MS Dhoni for the longest time. 

All-rounder

Krunal Pandya: After being dispatched by Glenn Maxwell in the first T20I, Krunal Pandya made a strong comeback in the second and dismissed the Victorian. The thing with him is he is a normal orthodox bowler who loves to build pressure by bowling at one particular length, but T20 cricket demands a bit more than that. Variation, although a bit, may help him out.

Spinner

Kuldeep Yadav: The Sheffield Shield pitch used a couple of weeks ago was slow and Sydney's surfaces have not had much pace too which may excite the Indian left-arm wrist-spinner to spin a web around. Australians visibly struggled against him in the second T20I and it is upon them to find out a way just the way Joe Root did in the ODI series.

Pacers

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: The pacer was economical, conceding runs at an economy rate of 5 runs per over and made the Australian top-order suffer to no end. He also threatened to pick wickets on each delivery and that says something about his quality. 

Jasprit Bumrah: After picking up only one wicket in Melbourne, Bumrah will be eager to pick up two more so as to reach the 50 T20I wickets after R Ashwin (52). He has always been excellent against the Aussies and hopefully, that will keep in a good headspace for the third T20I in Sydney.

Khaleel Ahmed: After Khaleel was handed the new ball, he accounted for the wickets of Chris Lynn and D'Arcy Short in the Powerplay, and by the end of 7 overs had the hosts reduced to 41 for 4. It was an experiment fraught with danger, but as it turned out, it gave more balance to the team in middle-overs thanks to the colossal presence of Bumrah.

Cricket FootBall Kabaddi

Basketball Hockey

SportsCafe

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all