In the third and final T20I at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket in Hyderabad, India’s captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first against Australia. With the series tied at one game apiece, India only made one adjustment to their starting lineup from the previous match, bringing back wicketkeeper-batter Bhuvneshwar Kumar in place of Rishabh Pant. India defeated Australia in a rain-delayed match to even the series at 1-1. Rohit gave an explanation of Pant’s absence from the series finale at the coin toss.
The previous game was changed to an 8-overs-per-side encounter, according to Rohit, so the team only required four bowlers. Bhuvneshwar was forced to sit out the game as a result, while Pant was added to the starting XI. “We will bowl first. It’s good to be back in Hyderabad and play in front of this crowd. We look to keep winning games, it’s important to maintain your momentum in this format of the game, so it was a good win for us (in Nagpur). Australia have always been challenging, they bring in a different kind of challenge. We need to keep doing the basics right if we have to get success. The last win helped us gain confidence and I hope everyone steps up today,” Rohit said after the toss.
“One change for us – Bhuvi is back, Rishabh misses out. We needed only 4 bowlers in the last game, so he (Bhuvneshwar) unfortunately missed out,” he said regarding the team formation. Bhuvneshwar has recently come under scrutiny for his death bowling. In the first game, the pacer gave up 49 runs while also going without a wicket. Deepak Hooda, an all-rounder, was also declared unavailable for selection by the BCCI due to a back issue.
