On Wednesday (11th December) night, India will face Windies in the third and final T20I of the home series at Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai).
This series is currently in 1-1 position. So, the Mumbai T20I will be the decider of this T20I series. India won the Hyderabad T20I on last Friday (6th December) by six wickets while Windies won the second game of this series at Thiruvananthapuram (8th December) by eight wickets.
Here is the predicted XI for India for the upcoming Mumbai T20I.
Rohit Sharma
The limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma is suddenly running in a bad patch as his last five innings scores were 2 (T20I), 6 (Test), 21 (Test), 8 (T20I) and 15 (T20I). However, the Indian cricket fans and team management have enough faith in this batting star, who is just one run short from the leading T20I run-scorer Virat Kohli (2,563 runs).
KL Rahul
The top-order batsman KL Rahul, who is playing the opening batsman role in this T20I series, has started to return to his form. In the domestic limited-overs matches, he impressed with his consistent performances, and he has recently shown it in T20Is. Before the last innings, where Rahul was dismissed on 11 runs, the right-handed batsman scored to successive T20I half-centuries (52 and 62).
Virat Kohli (C)
The leading T20I run-scorer Virat Kohli (2,563 runs) is in a great form, who played his highest T20I knock (94*) during the opening game of this T20I series. There is no doubt that the captain is leading from the front, but he is struggling to manage a positive start.
Shreyas Iyer
The 25-year-old Shreyas Iyer has excellent potential as he has already impressed in his early international career. However, the batsman needs more proper regular opportunities to express himself completely.
Shivam Dube
During the last T20I at Thiruvananthapuram, the Indian team management surprised everyone by promoting Shivam Dube at the no.3 batting position. However, the newcomer grabbed that opportunity properly and impressed with the bat. Though he was nervous at the initial period of his innings, he didn’t take much time to return to his rhythm. He scored 54 runs off 30 balls (3 fours and 4 sixes), including three sixes in an over to the Windies captain Kieron Pollard.
Rishabh Pant (wk)
In the last game, Rishabh Pant showed some good batting performance as he was not out on 33 runs (22 balls). But once again he disappointed with his wicketkeeping skills as he dropped one crucial opportunity to dismiss the Caribbean opening batsman Evin Lewis. His inconsistent performances for a long time is a serious concern of the team.
Ravindra Jadeja
The all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is in great form at present. He hasn’t got many opportunities in this series, but he is always ready to deliver his best. In this T20I series, the left-arm spinner Jadeja has taken two wickets.
Deepak Chahar
Before this T20I series, Deepak Chahar was in a dream form with the ball. But he had a horrific experience in the first T20I of this series (1/56) and wasn’t much impressive in the Thiruvananthapuram T20I (0/35) too. However, the team is not likely to lose faith in him at this early moment.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
In his international cricket return, the right-arm pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has much impressed with his bowling performances, but he was unlucky to open his wicket column in this T20I series. Especially in the last game of this series at Thiruvananthapuram, the Indian fielders dropped two chances in the same over, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was bowling at that time.
Mohammed Shami
In recent times, the pacer Mohammed Shami has hugely impressed with his outstanding bowling performances in ODI and Test cricket. The right-arm pacer played his last T20I in July 2017. While Washington Sundar has recently disappointed with his fielding and the Wankhede Stadium generally prefers the pacers more, Shami can make his T20I return after more than two years.
Yuzvendra Chahal
The leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is one wicket away to surpass the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (52 wickets) and become the most T20I wicket-taker for India. He has recently performed well in T20I cricket.