The hosts England and the visiting side India both are ready to play the third and final ODI of the three-match ODI series at Headingley (Leeds) on Tuesday (July 17). As the series is currently level by the 1-1 margin, the Tuesday’s game will be the series decider which is a day/night encounter.
India dominated in first ODI at Trent Bridge and won by 8 wickets (with 59 balls remaining), thanks to Kuldeep Yadav’s excellent disciplined bowling of 10-0-25-6 and vice-captain Rohit Sharma’s brilliant unbeaten century (137*).
In the second game at Lord’s, England star batsman Joe Root returned in the form with a brilliant century (113) that led the team for a crucial 86-run victory and levelled the series by 1-1.
Both the teams are desperate to win the third ODI and also to win the short ODI series. While the T20I series winner (1-2 margins) in this tour India will try to dominate the hosts by winning the ODI series too, England will want to earn back their respect by winning this home ODI series.
Despite most of the English batsmen are in-form, they are still badly struggling against the left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. Also, another big problem with this English batting line-up is the sudden collapse that suffered them hugely in the recent games.
Also read: Eoin Morgan prefers tri-series than bilateral series
In the last game, English bowlers were in the good touch, especially the spinners. But, in the recent cricket, English bowlers are hardly consistent in the limited-overs formats and it is the main concern of the team.
While Alex Hales has been ruled from the entire ODI series, James Vince has replaced him for the third ODI after David Malan has been released to play in the England Lions squad. However, the England captain Eoin Morgan is hardly interested to make any changes for the Tuesday’s ODI.
Meanwhile, the last Saturday’s defeat has raised some important questions for the Indian cricket team. While the top-order batting is mostly taking the responsibilities for India’s recent victories, the middle-order batting has failed to impress when they have been needed most. However, one of the main reasons also is they haven’t got regular chances to bat longer.
Also read: Sanjay Bangar defends MS Dhoni and credits English bowlers for the 2nd ODI
While the pacer Jasprit Bumrah has missed out the whole limited-overs series in this tour due to his left-thumb fracture, another important pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is still doubtful for the third ODI as the team management is not hurrying to make him fit.
In the result, the inexperienced pace bowling line-up is struggling against the strong English batting line-up. It is also raising the pressure on the Indian wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who have done the great jobs in this tour.
Also read: Team India Predicted XI For the Third ODI
India might make few changes in the squad as their important no.4 batting slot has not clicked yet and an inform batsman Dinesh Karthik is yet to play a game in this English tour.
Full ODI Squads:
England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Jake Ball, Tom Curran, James Vince, Liam Plunkett, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Mark Wood.
India: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shreyas Iyer, Siddarth Kaul, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
