Rendered ineffective in the previous match, India’s wrist-spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal would look to bounce back against ‘well-prepared’ England batsmen as the two teams clash in the series-deciding third T20I, here on Sunday.
The Indian spin duo faces its first real challenge in more than a year with England batsmen biting back immediately after drubbing in Manchester.
From Sri Lanka, to Australia, to New Zealand, and to South Africa, none of the opponents could easily contend with Chahal-Kuldeep in such quick time.
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With Kuldeep returning wicketless in Cardiff after a sensational five-wicket show in the series-opener and Chahal too taken for runs last night, they need to find ways to trouble the opponents.
India missed injured Jasprit Bumrah’s services on Friday during the death overs as England hit three sixes. His replacement Umesh Yadav has provided wickets (four in two matches) in the PowerPlays, but he has also been taken for runs.
Despite the disappointment on Friday, the visitors are still in contention for their sixth consecutive T20I series win, which is part of an unbeaten run stretching back to September 2017.
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The last time India lost a bilateral T20I contest was against West Indies in July 2017, albeit that was a one-off game. In fact, India’s last series’ loss with more one T20I game also came against the same opposition, at Florida in August 2016.
In between those two losses to West Indies, India beat England 2-1 in a three-match T20I series at home in January 2017. That contest is notable because India was 1-0 down, and came back to win the series with Chahal taking career-best six for 25 in the series decider at Bengaluru.
Wrist spin continues to be a deciding factor in the current series as well. Kuldeep brought the shock-value to the mix of things at Manchester and duly bamboozled England.
The hosts, in turn, prepared well for the second game, despite the short turn-around time, and with a little aid from the pitch, played more selectively against both wrist-spinners.
A little change in the England batting line-up also worked wonders. Joe Root was sent up at No. 4, with skipper Eoin Morgan dropping down to allow the former more time at the crease.
While it didn’t help Root in particular as he failed to read the googly for a second match running, it did allow Alex Hales to build partnerships and anchor the win.
Hales was included in the side in place of injured all-rounder Ben Stokes, but on current form, it will be tough to leave him out. Stokes returns to the England squad for the third match and bolsters the team’s confidence.
Stokes will also provide another seam-bowling option, and thus it remains to be seen if Moeen Ali will return to the eleven.
The squads:
India: Virat Kohli (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul and Umesh Yadav.
England: Eoin Morgan (Capt.), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes.
Match starts at 6.30 p.m. (IST).