G. Krishnan
Bengaluru, Jan 16:
Usually, with the series already in hand, the last match becomes an inconsequential one. But, not for the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team. Wednesday’s third T20I between India and Afghanistan will be the last T20I for the home team before the players disperse for their respective franchises for the IPL 2024 ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in the Americas.
Shivam Dube has come of age in international cricket, scoring back-to-back fifties and ensuring that India chased whatever target Afghanistan posted. In the second T20I, it was a case of Dube and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal contesting with each other as to who would hit more sixes and also the farthest.
It looks like both Dube and Jaiswal have booked their tickets for their maiden World Cup participation. But, the skipper Sharma will have a close look at quite a few slots and ponder over a couple of selections, with Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav sure to come back fully fit and available.
Chinnaswamy Stadium is usually a high-scoring venue in white-ball formats. In the nine T20Is and the 88 IPL matches played here, teams chasing have won a majority of the matches – five in T20Is and 47 in IPL. The bowlers find it a nightmare to bowl here, what with the pitch assisting batsmen and also the smaller boundaries, especially on the square side at less than 60m. The bowlers, on an average, concede 7.82 runs an over in T20Is and 8.71 per over in IPL.
That said, this is also the venue where the skilful bowlers can pick up wickets, like the discarded leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal found out against England in 2017, picking up 6/25 in his four overs.
The Indian spinners, especially left-armer Axar Patel, have been having a fruitful series. Patel even won the player of the match award for his 2/17 on a batting-friendly Indore track on Sunday, following his 2/23 in Mohali last Thursday.
Afghanistan will have to pull up their socks if they are to win some pride. But that will require some immensely mercurial effort against this dominating side. Afghanistan are also returning to a venue where they made their Test debut, in 2018, and lost by an innings in just two days.
It is more likely to be a 3-0 result for India but Afghanistan are an improving side and have defeated three World Cup champions in the recent 50-over World Cup. So, Sharma and Co will not take them for granted, for sure.
