India vs Afghanistan, 3rd T20I LIVE Score: Kuldeep Yadav, openers in focus as Men in Blue eye series sweep

Preview: With the series already in the bag, Rohit Sharma-led Team India would look to sort out a few team combinations in the third and final T20I in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The4 third T20I will be the Men in Blue’s final match before the T20 World Cup that takes place in the West Indies and United States in June. This series will be followed by a five-match Test series against England and then the Indian Premier League (IPL), which means this will be the final opportunity for Team India to perform as a unit before the showpiece tournament.

India’s opening pair has been talked about going into the third T20I, and it will be interesting to see if Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli open the hosts’ innings in the Garden City.

Rohit, however, was dismissed foir nought in the first two T20Is, thereby setting an unwanted record of two consecutive ducks for the first time in his career in T20Is. Rohit was run-out in the first T20I in Mohali, courtesy a mistake from Gill who was ball-watching at the non-strikers’ end. Gill was eventually dropped for the second T20I in Indore, where he was replaced by Yasahasvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal would then go onto amass 68 from 34 balls in a match-winning affair.

As far as the wicketkeepers’ slot is concerned, it remains to be seen if Sanju Samson gets an opportunity ovrer Jitesh Sharma, who has played both the T20Is so far.

Another change the hosts could make is in the spin bowling department. Kuldeep Yadav has been warming the bench in this series so far, and could be given a chance in the dead rubber. Kuldeep could replace Washington Sundar in the playing XI. The X-factor for India will be Axar Patel, who has scalped four wickets from the two matches and was especially impressive in Indore.

Avesh Khan could also get a game, coming ahead of Mukesh Kumar in the pace attack.

As far as Afghanistan are concernede, one change that they could make will be the spin department. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who impressed with figures of 2/21 in the first T20I, went wicketless for 32 runs in the second. Legspinner Qais Ahmed has been on the bench for the first two T20Is and it will be interesting to see if he gets a go in Bengaluru.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan.