Key Points
India aims to clinch series with strategic bowling change
Shami returns after World Cup final
Unchanged playing XI for England
Competitive match expected at Niranjan Shah Stadium
India will have the chance to secure the series after securing successive wins in the first two games. With the series on the line, England decided to stick to its plan and name an unchanged playing XI.
Notably, India decided to bring Mohammed Shami back in place of left-arm speedster Arshdeep Singh. The rest of the playing XI remained unchanged.
Shami has been on the sidelines since appearing in the ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia. He returned to competitive cricket for Bengal's Ranji Trophy clash against Madhya Pradesh.
The seasoned seamer continued to feature in the domestic competitions towards the end of the last year. In Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he scythed 11 wickets in nine matches at an average of 25.36. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he returned with five scalps in three matches.
After winning the toss, India captain Suryakumar said, "We will bowl first, looks nice and hard, don't think it will change later as well. Rajkot has always been a good track, sure it will be a sporting one. We wanted to play a different brand of cricket but at the same time you need to understand the situation, and he (Tilak) bailed the side out. We'll look at it as a 3 game series from here, boys are charged up. Arshdeep is resting, and Shami comes in.
England skipper Jos Buttler said during the time of the toss, "Looks a really good surface, looking forward to batting. We would've chased as well. Looks like a good wicket, guys had a good practice yesterday and we're excited about the match. Was a really good game of cricket, we fought hard and pushed them all the way. We need to play well tonight. We know how well India plays, they're a strong team. We need a good total to defend. Same team but Jamie Smith will keep wickets, Salt has got a little stiff calf."
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Dhruv Jurel, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy
England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith(w), Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
