Preview: 3rd T20I – Will India win the T20I Series or England claim Complete Series Win at Chelmsford?

Winning the second T20I by 8 runs, India have leveled the three-match T20I series 1-1 and pocketed the 2 important points. England lead the multi-format series with 8 points to India’s 6. A win in the third T20I for England will mean that they win the multi-format affair, however, if India win, the multi-format affair will result in a draw.

The third T20I between India and England will be played at the County Ground in Chelmsford on Wednesday from 11pm IST. It will be a day-night game.

England beat India by 18 Runs in 1st T20I. PC: England Cricket / Twitter
England beat India by 18 Runs in 1st T20I. PC: England Cricket / Twitter

Squads

India: Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Indrani Roy (wk), Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Simran Bahadur

England: Fran Wilson, Danielle Wyatt, Heather Knight (c), Sophia Dunkley, Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones (wk), Katherine Brunt, Mady Villiers, Tammy Beaumont (wk), Freya Davies, Sophie Ecclestone, Natasha Farrant, Sarah Glenn, Anya Shrubsole

Probable playing XI

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Richa Ghosh (wk), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav

England: Tammy Beaumont, Danielle Wyatt, Heather Knight (c), Sophia Dunkley, Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones (wk), Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Glenn, Mady Villiers 

Players to watch out for

Harmanpreet Kaur: India’s T20I captain, who promoted herself up the order at number 3 in the second T20I finally hit form as she scored 31 off 25, hitting two boundaries and as many sixes. The 32-year-old was looking good and India will hope that their skipper is on fire for the last and the final T20I of the series. Even if India loses an early wicket, Harmanpreet should come at number 3 because in T20s it is important that your best batter plays the maximum deliveries.

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India snatch a victory against England in 2nd T20I at Hove
India snatch a victory against England in 2nd T20I at Hove

 

Katherine Brunt: England’s pace spearhead is expected to come back strong in the third T20I against India, especially against their opening bat Shafali Verma, who smashed Brunt for five boundaries in an over. Throughout the series, the duel between Brunt and Verma has garnered a lot of attention and with the final match of the series being played on Wednesday, it will be interesting to see who has the last laugh.

Head to head

India and England have played 21 T20Is against each other. With 16 wins, England clearly dominates this duel. India, though has just five wins, are a better team than the number suggests. After winning the second T20I, the women in blue will certainly fight hard in the last and final match of the series to draw the multi-format affair.

Weather

It is an evening start in England with the first ball being bowled at 6.30 pm (local time). As per the weather reports, there is a 40% chance of rain just before the start of play. So, the toss will be crucial.

Pitch and venue

It is a good pitch for batting, with some help to bowlers because of the notoriously windy conditions at their disposal. So far, only two women’s T20Is have been played at this venue. The team batting first has won one match and team batting second has won one. The highest score at this venue is 226-3 in 20 overs by Australia against England in 2019 and the highest score chased at this venue is 138 by England against New Zealand in 2018.

I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.

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