Ind vs Eng: India Playing XI for 5th T20 – Ishan Kishan to be benched for KL Rahul? The stage is set for battle between World No. 1 England vs World No. 2 India in the series decider. The big battle will decide the winner of the 5 match series. But the question for Virat Kohli and team India is the same right from the 1st T20 – who will open for India? will the out of form KL Rahul be replaced with Ishan Kishan or will the Mumbai Indians player will again be benched ?
Ind vs Eng 5th T20 – KL Rahul or Ishan Kishan in Indian Playing XI? If at all any place in the playing XI for the 5th T20 will be debated during the team think-tank’s meeting i.e of KL Rahul. The Punjab Kings captain has 4 failures to his name with scores of 1, 0, 0, & 14. Anyone would have got the boot from the XI with such miserable performance – but team India is all set to persist with Rahul in XI.
India vs England: This means Ishan Kishan will again have to be benched. Kishan made a brilliant debut – but failed in the 3rd T20 and was benched ‘because of niggle before the 4th T20 against England’. It is unlikely that captain Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri will give a chance to Kishan ahead of Rahul.
This means Rahul-Rohit duo will open for India once again in the 5th T20 with both yet to score anything meaningful in the series.
Ind vs Eng 5th T20: How the Indian Openers have performed in the series?
Lesser said about the Indian openers in the series better it is. The worst part is the player who scored match winning knock as an opener i.e Ishan Kishan is not getting a chance to play the role again. Sample this –
India vs England T20 Series – Indian Openers cut sorry figure-
1st T20 – Shikhar Dhawan (4) – KL Rahul (1) Partnership 2 Runs
2nd T20 – Ishan Kishan (56) – KL Rahul (0) Partnership 0 Run
3rd T20 – Rohit Sharma (15) – KL Rahul (0) Partnership 7 Runs
4th T20 – Rohit Sharma (12) – KL Rahul (14) Partnership 21 Runs
Despite of total run tally of 15 Runs in 4 games, Rahul is all set to be persisted for the series decider as well.
Ind vs Eng 5th T20 – Likely Playing XI according to InsidSport.co : 1. Rohit Sharma, 2. KL Rahul, 3. Virat Kohli (C), 4. Suryakumar Yadav, 5. Shreyas Iyer, 6. Rishabh Pant, 7. Hardik Pandya, 8. Washington Sundar, 9. Shardul Thakur, 10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11. Rahul Chahar.
Suryakumar Yadav with his superlative performance in the 4th game has already sealed his place for the series decider as the captain is super-impressed with the talented man.
“It’s not easy to walk in at three in your first game and we all were stunned. He stamped his authority and allowed the likes of Shreyas, Hardik and Pant to do their job. I am a fan of these youngsters,” said Kohli referring to Suryakumar.
With Kishan and Suryakumar making massive impact in their maiden series, Haryana all-rounder Rahul Tewatia is the only one in the squad left to make his debut. Meanwhile T. Natrajan has also been declared fit and will be available for the 5th T20, though it is unlikely that he will be drafted in the XI straightaway.
Ind vs Eng 5th T20 – Is all ok with Virat Kohli? Despite limping off in the death overs of the 4th T20I, Kohli should be declared fit for the 5th game. According to the information coming in from team India camp, Kohli should take the field in 5th T20.