THIRD T20I - IND Vs ENG
Match-Review
Match Result:- England Won The Match By 08 Wickets.
The series was beautifully poised & both the teams wanted to have an upper hand in the series. English team is a master of this format, but loss in the second match was an awakening for them. So, it was expected that the world champions be coming hard at team india.
On the other hand, team india made a strong come back in the second match of the series & making the series really interesting. The good news is, team is back to the winning ways but some big problems are staring at them. Right now, team india is facing a problem of plenty & that's making this team look very unsettled.
BIG CHANGES FOR BOTH THE TEAMS
In this epic clash, both the teams made few changes. English team looks very settled & the only change they made was - Mark Wood, as expected. On the flip side, for team india it was a forced change, as hitman - "Rohit Sharma" returned to squad. But, a million dollar question was, who would be resting this time ? It's very unfortunate for "Surya Kumar Yadav", that after playing only one game in which he didn't get an opportunity to bat, had to create space for vice-captain of the team. Very Unfortunate.
TEAM INDIA - STILL VERY UNSETTLED
Eoin Morgan playing his 100th game as a captain of team England in this format, won an all important toss & opted to field first. It meant team india had to post a score & that 's the most tricky part in this series, irrespective of any team. The pattern or mantra of this series so far is - "Win The Toss & Win The Match". In this match, team india tried their third opening combination - Rahul & Rohit. Three matches -Three different combinations. Looking at the approach of team india, they look very unsettled side & they have only two matches left before T20 World Cup, to fix these issues.
RAHUL - ON THE DOWN-SLIDE
This series is proving to be a nightmare for indian opener "K.L.Rahul". He is on a down slide & his scores in last four innings are - 0,1,0,0 & this is scary, looking at the T20 World Cup. But, the best thing even in this situation is - team is backing him as a front-line opener along with Rohit. Thankfully, it's a right approach. Just looking at four innings, we cannot decide a future of a promising player. He is a class act & a super striker in the shortest format of the game. It takes only few deliveries in this format to make a comeback. Rahul is a classy player & we must back him. He is a player to watch out for. "Form is Temporary But Class is Permanent".
MARK WOOD - THE STAND OUT PLAYER
Mark Wood is a marquee player for english team & he made his presence felt, right from the ball number one. Indian batters had no answer to his striking pace & yet again lost three big wickets, quickly in the power-play itself. In first T20 also, he was the impact player & did all the damage in the power-play & same story in this match too. He is, by far the stand out bowler & the big difference in both the teams.
VIRAT KOHLI'S INSPIRING KNOCK - ALL IN VAIN
One of the most positive takeaway for team india, is the form of skipper Virat Kohli. He scored back to back half centuries in this series. Virat's sublime form with the bat from last match continued here & we've witnessed yet another blistering knock from Virat(77*). It's just not the runs he scored but the way he scored, was an absolute delight to watch & his last two shots mesmerized everyone. The bottom line is, even his unbelievable knock in this match, proved to be insufficient for team india.
TURNING POINT OF INDIAN INNINGS
Team india was in the recovery phase, after loosing three wickets in power-play. It was skipper Kohli & Rishabh Pant at the crease. Pant was playing in his style - aggressive & fearless. It looked like, the hosts will take control of the match with all attacking mode & just when pendulum was shifting towards team india, a dreadful mix-up & Pant was "Run-Out". Eventually, this proved to be a turning point of the game.
THE J-FACTOR - WINNING FORMULA OF ENGLAND
We have decode the winning formula of english team & it is "The J-Factor". If we see the first T20 match, the impact players for england was "Jason Roy, Joss Buttler & Jofra Archer". Now, in the third T20 fixture it was - "Joss Buttler(83*) & Jonny Bairstow(40*)". So basically, the J-factor is winning for england & team india is just not finding a way to deal with them.
AVERAGE BOWLING & FIELDING - HURTING BADLY
Average bowling & fielding in all three fixtures of this T20 series is hurting team india badly. In the fielding department, team india has dropped some sitters & sloppy work on the ropes especially from "Shardul Thakur & Yuzvendra Chahal", added insult to injury. Furthermore,the bowling department looks very average in absence of Bumrah & Shami.
Team india looked very flat in this match & were outplayed by England in all the departments of the game, yet again. England easily won this match by eight wickets & leads the series by 2-1. Joss Buttler was awarded as "Player of The Match" for his unbeaten 83* but my take was different. For resounding performance with the ball - "Mark Wood" was my player of the match.
It's a do or die situation for team india & it will be interesting to see, how team india will bounce back in the series.Next game is a semi-final for the hosts. Will team india make a strong come back again in the series or world champions will seal the deal in the next match ? GAME ON.......
Written By:- Saksham
Twitter Handle - @SakshamTalks
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