India vs New Zealand, 3rd T20I (N), Kolkata, Nov 21 2021, New Zealand tour of India
Expected Conditions at Eden Gardens: Dew, the dreaded factor for bowlers, will unfortunately come into play at Eden Gardens too. The forecast is for a clear night which is a good news. If India win the toss for the 3rd time in the series, they might want to bat first to see their ability to set up a total on the board.
Team News:
India: With the series already won, it is likely that India will make changes to their XI and give some of the uncapped players like Avesh Khan an opportunity. KL could be rested and Ruturaj Gaikwad could be given a go in the top order. Harshal Patel already impressed on debut with a Man of the Match performance and Ishan Kishan could be brought in for the final game. Among spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal could be given a chance in for Axar Patel since R Ashwin has impressed in both the matches.
Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul/Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant/Ishan Kishan, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Avesh Khan
New Zealand: New Zealand brought back their A team in the second T20I after having given the players in the extras an opportunity in the series opener. Despite that, they were far away from winning the game. They may, however, bring back Lockie Ferguson for Adam Milne in the final who was rested for the second game after having recovered from injury.
Probable XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson/Adam Milne, Trent Boult
Interesting Facts:
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul hold the joint-record for the most century partnerships in T20Is.
Ruturaj Gaikwad is the leading run-scorer while Avesh Khan is the leading wicket-taker for India in T20Is.
What the Captains said:
Rohit Sharma: The quality of the bench has been amazing. They have been performing consistently whenever they get the chance. It is important for me to give them freedom. It is important that the guys get time in the middle. It is early to think about changes in the next game. Whatever suits team India, we’ll do that.
We need to make sure we look after the guys who are playing now. They haven’t played a lot either. For the guys who haven’t played, their time will come, there are a lot of T20s. Harshal has done it time and again, he is a very skillful bowler. Even in these conditions, he used the slower ball really well.
Tim Southee: Credit to India, they pulled it back nicely after the first six overs. They played better cricket and didn’t give us a chance with the bat as well. It was wet for both teams and it was only slightly more in the second innings. We knew dew would be a factor, but India were too good on this day. We will now go to a new venue, a quick turnaround, and we’ll assess when we get to Kolkata.
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