England vs India, 3rd T20I Preview: Series in the bag, India look to give fringe players valuable game time

Shreyas Iyer, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi and Umran Malik haven't played a part in the series till now and all of them are likely to get an opportunity.

LIVE SCORES -England vs India, 3rd T20I

Rishabh Pant as opener an ingenious idea

India brought back Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant into their playing 11 at Edgbaston after they were rested from the first T20 following a taxing Test match.

India got to bat first again despite losing the toss and showed that they are trying hard to overhaul their batting style, twice in a row now.

Rishabh Pant at the top of the order looks like a million dollar idea. He has succeeded in Tests and a major reason for that is his ability to manipulate the field. When all except two fielders are up in the batting powerplay, Rishabh Pant has brilliant game awareness to utilise that to his advantage and India might just have struck gold.

Virat Kohli was back in place of Deepak Hooda at number 3 but only managed a three-ball one. However, not many will begrudge it as he went down in an attempt to score quickly, having embraced the team philosophy.

Ravindra Jadeja shines

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya had cameos but it was Ravindra Jadeja who held the innings together after Dinesh Karthik and Harshal Patel fell in quick succession towards the end of the innings. It was Jadeja's unbeaten 29-ball 46 which ensured that India reached 170 despite a wobble in the middle.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma walked the talk with a rapid 31 and set the tone early on.

Gleeson and Jordan on the money

Richard Gleeson, who was making his debut for England, shone bright with 3 wickets from his 4 overs while giving away just 15 runs. And, they weren't just random three wickets on debut but that of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant which had the potential of turning the match on its head.

Chris Jordan also succeeded twice in a row, picking up four wickets while giving away 27 runs.

England batters no match for Bhuvi's swing

Like in the first match, the Indian bowlers were right on the money in the second T20 as well and did not allow England to get away. If it was Jos Buttler first ball in the 1st T20I, it was Jason Roy off the first delivery for Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 2nd T20I. The bowler has made it a habit of drawing first blood with the white nut, which is doing quite a lot for a change.

Liam Livingstone looked a million dollars during his 9-ball 15-run stay at the crease but was done in by a brilliant Jasprit Bumrah slower delivery. There were sparks from Moeen Ali and David Willey but the Indian bowling was relentless and did not allow England to enter the chase realistically at any point.

Chances for Indian fringe players

With the series in the bag, India will now look to give their bench an opportunity. Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation that he will have a conversation with head coach Rahul Dravid and try to dole out as many chances as possible to fringe players.

Shreyas Iyer, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi and Umran Malik haven't played a part in the series till now and all of them are likely to get an opportunity. Fans will also want to see Deepak Hooda back who has been in sensational form in his short international career.

England are unlikely to make any changes as their bowling line up looks right on the money. If at all, they can consider bringing in Reece Topley in place of Matthew Parkinson. Phil Salt is also waiting for an opportunity but England wouldn't like to drop Harry Brook after just two chances.

Predicted Playing XIs

England - Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Richard Gleeson, Matthew Parkinson

India - Rohit Sharma (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi

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