After a nervous victory in Jaipur, India looked a lot more confident in MS Dhoni’s hometown Ranchi. They recovered from some early hammering at the hands of Martin Guptill to restrict New Zealand to 153 for 6. Ravichandran Ashwin stood out with figures of 1 for 19 while Harshal Patel walked away with the man of the match on debut, registering figures of 2 for 25. Axar Patel was economical as well but Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar went for a few.
When India batted, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma shone with half-centuries while the rest did not have to do much. With the series in the bag, India will do well to give the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan a chance in the batting department. Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav can perhaps be rested. In the bowling, Avesh Khan could be handed his international debut while Yuzvendra Chahal could possibly come in for Ashwin.
New Zealand have admitted that they have been found out with both bat and ball owing to the lack of preparations. They flew to India directly after the T20 World Cup 2021 final in the UAE. The fact that they have lost the toss and have had to bat first hasn’t helped their cause as dew has been a massive disadvantage.
India’s predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Venkatesh Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel
New Zealand’s predicted XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Tim Seifert, Glenn Phillips (WK), Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham, Tim Southee (C), Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
Top fantasy picks for India vs New Zealand 3rd T20I: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Martin Guptill, Mark Chapman, Tim Southee
--Renin Wilben Albert