India opt to bowl, drop Bishnoi for must-win third T20I

India made one change, bringing in Prince Yadav for Ravi Bishnoi, and opted to bowl first against England in the third T20I. With England leading 1-0, India need victory at Trent Bridge to keep the five-match series alive

Nottingham: India dropped expensive spinner Ravi Bishnoi and brought in pacer Prince Yadav as skipper Shreyas Iyer decided to bowl first against England in the must-win third T20I of the five-match series at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Tuesday.

Prince Yadav was the only change in India’s playing XI, while England remained unchanged from the second T20I.

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Though the team management decided to drop Bishnoi after the leg-spinner conceded 60 runs in his four overs, including 29 in one over, in the second T20I in Manchester, skipper Iyer said it was just a hiccup and a great learning experience for him.

“That was just a hiccup, but you have to back your bowler. Every player goes through that phase, but it’s a great learning (experience) for him. By the looks of it, I feel it’s a beautiful wicket. One side is short, so we want to maximise it and see what they do,” said Iyer after the toss.

England captain Harry Brook said he would have opted to bat if he had won the toss. With England leading 1-0 after two matches, India need to win the third match in Nottingham to avoid conceding an unassailable lead in the five-match series, with two more matches to go. The first match was abandoned due to rain.

Playing XIs:

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (capt), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue.

India: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (capt), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy.