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THE TIMES OF INDIA | Jan 17, 2024, 17:20:24 IST
IND Vs AFG Live Score, 3rd T20I Cricket Match - In a World Cup year, the ongoing T20I series featuring India and Afghanistan has not garnered the kind of attention it ought to. On Wednesday, the Men in Blue will be playing their final T20I game before they travel to the US and Caribbean for the ICC event in June. The talking point of this three-match series has been the return of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after a gap of 14 months in T20 Internationals, pointing towards their possible inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad. In all this, it is Mumbai allrounder Shivam Dube who has grabbed the spotlight with back-to-back unbeaten half-centuries for a team which is not at full strength. Some of the players are injured while key pacers have been rested. With his all-round show and six-hitting abilities, Dube has made a strong claim for himself for a World Cup berth. As a result, India’s No.1 allrounder Hardik Pandya has not been missed much, especially with the bat. But then, players like Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has made the opening slot his own, will be keen to deliver in the final T20I and continue the momentum in the IPL. The same can be said for players like Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh and Axar Patel, with the latter having been brilliant in the first two games, scalping four with an economy of five per over, among others. It is a no-brainer that the performances in the cash-rich league, just before the T20 World Cup, could play a huge role in cementing players’ place in the side. With India having already sealed the series with two wins, the final match is a dead rubber. It thus opens a window of opportunity for the team management to experiment with team combinations. Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav and speedster Avesh Khan have not played a single game in the series, and the trio will be hoping to get a crack on Wednesday. Even Rinku hasn’t got much time in the middle. Irrespective of the team composition, skipper Rohit, who has failed to get off the mark in the series, will be eager to strike form at the top of the order. The opener, who took an aggressive route in the 50-over World Cup, is expected to play a similar brand of cricket, and get in tune with the fearless approach of the young Indian team in the shortest format. Likewise, Kohli, who looked good in the last match with a 16-ball 29, will be aiming to score big, and at a quicker strike rate. On the other hand, Afghanistan, who have not fired as a unit in the series need their batters — including Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran and Gulbadin Naib — to make their presence felt while bowlers like Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Naveen Ul-Haq have to execute their plans against a strong Indian batting lineup.
Kuldeep, Avesh look to get some game time
While India might not affect any major changes in the batting unit, the think-tank can look to give some game-time to Kuldeep Yadav and Avesh Khan. The left-arm wrist spinner can come in for either Ravi Bishnoi or Washington Sundar, and Avesh can replace his fellow pacer Mukesh Kumar.
Rohit eyes much-needed runs
Among these slews of positives, a minor irritant has been the failure of Rohit Sharma to fire. He was run out in the first match after a mix up with Shubman Gill, while misjudging pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi's length doomed him at Indore. His tally of two runs across as many matches will not worry the management by any stretch of imagination. But they will certainly like to see him signing off from the series with a substantial innings.
IND vs AFG Live Score, India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I: Head-to-head
IND vs AFG Live Score, India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I: Kohli, Dube, Jaiswal in spotlight
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had missed the first match at Mohali with a groin niggle, too showed the willingness to imbibe the pattern with a quick half-century in the last game. India will eye an encore from the trio Kohli, Jaiswal and Dube at the high-scoring Chinnaswamy.
IND vs AFG Live Score, India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I: Red-hot Dube
Shivam Dube reappeared in the Indian blue after a gap of three years when he was selected for the T20 series against Ireland at Malahide, Dublin, last year. But after playing in the subsequent Asian Games, Dube could not find a spot in the series against Australia and South Africa. However, the scattered appearances did not prevent Dube from following the path set by the think tank. His two brutal fifties were too heavy to handle for Afghanistan, who did not have the services of injured star spinner Rashid Khan.
IND vs AFG Live Score, India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I: Kohli 3.0?
India's identical six-wicket wins were marked by an ultra-aggressive mindset from ball one that saw them chasing down 159 in 17.3 overs and 173 in 15.4 overs respectively. It was a clear deviation from their earlier approach of building the momentum for a final flourish in T20s. None showed this intent more brightly than Shivam Dube and Virat Kohli. Kohli was playing a T20 for India after 14 months at Indore, but he creamed a 16-ball 29 at a strike rate of 181. The most noteworthy feature of his little yet significant innings was the way he handled Afghan spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, whom he carted for 18 runs off seven balls, striking against him at a rate of 257. Kohli has always been a bit of a slow-mover against spin but there was no trepidation this time and he showed commendable alacrity to contribute his two cents to a transformed approach.
IND vs AFG Live Score, India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I: Final international game before T20 World Cup
This will be India's final T20 game ahead of the World Cup in June, and the team management wouldn't want any drop in intensity that was displayed during victories at Mohali and Indore.
IND vs AFG Live Score, India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I: India look to sweep series
With the series already in the bag, India will be eager to perfect their freshly-baked T20 template as a team and hope that skipper Rohit Sharma's bat finally fires when they face Afghanistan in the dead rubber.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the third and final T20I in Bengaluru.
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