India vs England: Will India Take Up an Aggressive Approach in the Series Decider?

Just like the T20I series earlier, the ODI series between India and England has gone into the decider with the third and final match to be held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Sunday.

India had won the first match by 66 runs, defending 317 runs. England came back with a bang smashing India by six wickets in the second match, chasing 337 runs in the 44th over. The small size of the ground and perfect batting conditions promise another run fest, with bowlers expected to struggle again.

The Indian bowlers would have been high on confidene after the first game but the story was different in the second.

Spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya, who were the fourth and fifth bowlers for India, were a let-down, going for 156 runs in their 16 overs. Kuldeep in particular will be feeling the heat as he was visibly down in confidence. In comparison, England’s spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid were much better.

India could rest Chinaman Kuldeep and replace him with leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been Kohli’s other trumpcard spinner in the ODI set-up. Chahal was not picked in the playing XI for the last two T20Is and the first ODI after he conceded quite a few runs in the initial games of the T20 series.

The pacers have performed well but they have not been effective with the new ball in both the games. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is getting the ball to swing while Prasidh Krishna has bowled hard lengths.

However, England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow have set up century stands in both the one-dayers, showing Indian bowlers’ weakness in their ability to exploit the new ball.

“Personally I would like to start better. I would like to improve on how I have been starting, bowling with the new ball,” Prasidh said.

WHEN: 28th March, 1:30 PM IST

WHERE: Pune, India

TELECAST: StarSports

LIVE STREAMING: Hotstar

Allowing a good start to the England openers can be dangerous considering the visitors have a power-packed batting line-up. In fact, their strength in ODIs in recent times has been their batting.

Apart from the openers, the Indians also need to be wary of Ben Stokes who was in a murderous mood in Friday’s match, batting at No. 3. The left-hander clobbered a 52-ball 99 to take the game away from India.

The home team’s batting has, however, looked good with K.L. Rahul coming good in the middle-order and Shreyas Iyer’s replacement in the second ODI, Rishabh Pant scoring a swashbuckling 77 off 40 deliveries.

Focus will also be on skipper Virat Kohli who has scored four consecutive half-centuries in ODIs but has failed to convert it into a century.

India might also look to take a more fearless approach in the decider. They were conservative for most part of their batting in the second ODI and yet got past 330. Given England have shown they’re going to play their brand of cricket come what may, India too might be tempted to do the same.

India did that with success in the final T20I in Ahmedabad, which they went on to win. Can they do an encore in Pune?

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur

England: Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Livingstone, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Dawid Malan.

• Ben Stokes
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• Jonny Bairstow
• Rishabh Pant
• Virat Kohli