India v England 3rd ODI: Both teams make one change!

India v England 3rd ODI – Toss and Playing XIs

England won the toss for the 3rd consecutive time in the ODI series and elect to bowl again in the series decider.

Both teams went in with one change each with England opting for the extra pace of Mark Wood over Tom Curran while India axed Kuldeep Yadav and brought in T Natarajan.

Virat Kohli admitted he would have bowled again if he won the toss on a pitch which favored the team batting second.

“I would’ve bowled first again, but it seems like the toss is completely out of my control right now. It’s a hard pitch and and has some grass covering. We’ve introspected and identified a few areas that we need to improve on, put up 20-30 more runs with the bat and put up a better show with the ball. Our best cricket has come out when our backs have been against the wall – Test series, after being one down and the same in T20s, afer being 1-2 down. We have to be at our best today to win the decider. We have a tactical change: Natarajan comes in for Kuldeep Yadav.” said the Indian captain.

England captain Jos Buttler is proud of the way his team has performed and wished to continue the same in the deciding ODI.

 “We’re bowling first, for similar reasons as the first two games. Very proud of the performance the other day, and it showed our passion. It’s important to continue playing the brand of cricket that we are known for. It’s been a fantastic tour with some great matches, and it’s come down to the last game of the tour that decides the result. We’re desperate to win today’s decider. Just one change for today: Mark Wood comes in for Tom Curran.” the England captain said.

Playing XI:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan

England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler (wk/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Mark Wood

If India loses this match – they will fall back to No.3 in the ICC Cricket rankings!