During the toss, Rohit Sharma explained why Rishabh Pant had to sit out the series decider© AFP
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first against Australia in the third and final T20I at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket in Hyderabad. With the series levelled at 1-1, India made just one change to their playing XI from the previous game as Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to the side, replacing wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant. India had levelled the series 1-1 after beating Australia in a rain-hit match. During the toss, Rohit explained why Pant had to sit out the series decider.
Rohit explained that the team only needed four bowlers in the previous match, which was reduced to an 8-overs-per-side contest. As a result, Bhuvneshwar had to sit out the game, and Pant was included in the playing XI.
“We will bowl first. It’s good to be back in Hyderabad and play in front of this crowd. We look to keep winning games, it’s important to maintain your momentum in this format of the game, so it was a good win for us (in Nagpur). Australia have always been challenging, they bring in a different kind of challenge. We need to keep doing the basics right if we have to get success. The last win helped us gain confidence and I hope everyone steps up today,” Rohit said at the toss.
“One change for us – Bhuvi is back, Rishabh misses out. We needed only 4 bowlers in the last game, so he (Bhuvneshwar) unfortunately missed out,” he said about the team composition.
Recently, Bhuvneshwar has been under the scanner for his death bowling.
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The pacer conceded 49 runs in the first match, and also failed to pick a wicket.
Also, the BCCI also announced that all-rounder Deepak Hooda was unavailable for selection owing to a back injury.
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