Kolkata: Kieron Pollard-led West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the third and final T20I here at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday.
India made three changes to their lineup as the hosts brought in Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, and Avesh Khan in place of Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Yuzvendra Chahal. Pacer Avesh Khan was also handed a T20I debut and he received his maiden cap from fellow pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
On the other hand, West Indies also made four changes to their lineup from the previous game.
At the time of the toss, Rohit said: “Feels good to bat first given that we did well in the last game. We have some guys missing. We have four changes: Virat, Bhuvi. Pant and Chahal miss out. Avesh Khan makes his debut. Ruturaj and Ishan will open the batting. There is a lot of cricket ahead of us and the challenge for the World Cup would be to make sure we are mentally and physically fresh. At the moment everything looks fine.”
On the other hand, Windies skipper Kieron Pollard said: “We are going to bowl first. Nothing much has changed in these last two games, the ball comes onto the bat nicely. We have four changes: Wash, Fabian, Drakes, and Hope come back in. When we look at the two games that we lost, we have batted well but we faltered during our fielding and bowling at the death. It is also an opportunity for the guys to have a taste of the conditions and see what they can offer.”
India has already gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match series.
Playing XI: India: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi.
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