Kolkata: Finally, cricket comes to its own city – the city of Joy – Kolkata. After the run-fest of back to back 700 plus runs being scored in the last two one dayers, it may come as a shock to fans but the final ODI in Kolkata between India and England at the ongoing Paytm series might be a low scoring match.
India vs England 2017
However, it would still be a fighting clash tomorrow at the jam-packed Eden Gardens in Kolkata with around thousands of spectators are expected to arrive at the venue for this day-night clash. After the recent renovation work at the stadium the pitch is expected to keep the ball low making it difficult for the batsmen to get runs effortlessly.
However, the presence of grass on the track could help the fast bowlers immensely. Once again, dew will play crucial role like the previous match when England easily reached 366 while batting second as balls were coming freely on to the bat – thanks to poor bowling by the Indians and dew factor as well.
Team News
For England, the bad news is the injury of Alex Hales. The gutsy opener hurt himself badly in the last one day while trying to catch out MS Dhoni on the deep mid-wicket region. But he ended up hitting himself more which was quite visible when he came out to bat for England.
For the Indian dressing room, all is not well either. Dashing opener Shikhar Dhawan immediately went to private hospital for a precautionary check-up. It seemed his old pain in the left thumb has suddenly aggravated while playing at the Cuttack ODI. Ajinkya Rahane is all set to play the final ODI replacing Dhawan.
Team Strategy: Will Kohli go with winning combination?
After winning the series 2-0, India is now eyeing to clean sweep the visitors with unassailable 3-0 lead. It is quite possible with the kind of all-round performance that team India is demonstrating continuously in this series. But, Morgan’s fightback in the end in the last one day match proved that he is a fighter and will fight tooth and nail to win Kolkata ODI to make the series 2-1.
Both India and England would be thinking about strengthening their bowling armory more. Even though India have somehow won the series thanks to strong batting prowess but somewhere they have also failed to stop England scoring over 350 in both matches. Ironically, England have failed to win a single match in the series even after scoring 350+ in both the clashes. English batsmen are surely in fine touch but they couldn’t help the team win.
The entry of Billings into England side could be a respite for Captain Morgan. He will try to make the most out of it due to an opportunity created after Alex Hales’s injury. In fact, he will open the innings with Jason Roy if English dressing room sources are to be believed.
Probable XI for both teams:
India: Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli (Captain), Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni(Wicket-Keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin.
England: Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (Captain), Ben Stokes, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (Wicket-Keeper), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jake Ball, David Willey and Sam Billings.
Tags: 3rd ODI, Barabati Stadium, England, Eoin Morgan, India, Kolkata, Paytm Series, Virat Kohli
