India and England will lock horns in the third and final ODI on Wednesday, February 12 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The game is the last chance for both teams before they take part in the Champions Trophy, scheduled to get underway on February 19. India already claimed the series after taking a 2-0 lead with their win in Cuttack.
In the second ODI, India handed Varun Chakravarathy his maiden ODI cap to have a look at him before the Champions Trophy. One player, who is a part of the squad for the upcoming ICC event, but hasn’t played a match in the series, is left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh.
After Jasprit Bumrah failed to get fit, India might well need Arshdeep’s services in Dubai. The left-arm seamer has played eight ODIs in which he has taken 12 wickets at an economy rate of 5.05.
Amongst the other players in the squad, Washington Sundar is yet to play. Having played 22 ODIs in which he has scored 315 runs at an average of 24.23 and taken 23 wickets, Sundar has had his fair share of success. But he would want to get some match practice before taking part in the Champions Trophy.
As far as England are concerned, Jacob Bethell is unavailable for them due to a hamstring injury and will miss the Champions Trophy. Tom Banton was called in as cover, and it remains to be seen if he plays in the dead rubber.
England also need to figure out the structure of their bowling attack, as none of their bowlers have been able to build pressure on the Indian batters. Gus Atkinson conceded 65 runs in 7 overs at an economy rate of 9.28 in the Cuttack ODI, where India won by four wickets.
India vs England Predicted XI
India
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel/Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana/Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy
England
Philip Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood