India will take on England in the third of the ongoing five-match T20I series on Tuesday, January 28, at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. With India having won the first two matches played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata and MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the series currently stands at 2-0 in favor of the hosts. If India beats England on Tuesday, it will give Suryakumar Yadav his fourth consecutive T20I series win as captain of the Men in Blue.
India made two enforced changes in the playing XI for the second T20I in Chennai and are highly likely to make two more changes for the third match. Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who played in the last match but failed to contribute much with the bat, is all set to make way for Shivam Dube or Ramandeep Singh. Dube and Ramandeep became part of India’s T20I squad on Saturday after Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out of the entire series and Rinku Singh was unable to play in the second and third T20Is due to low back spasms.
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Ramandeep played in the last two games of the T20I series against South Africa in November 2024, and Dube’s last T20I for India came against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on July 30, 2024. The member of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup in 2024 might be provided preference over Ramandeep purely based on experience, even though Ramandeep is better as a batting resource.
There is another possibility in which both Dube and Ramandeep could feature, but in such a scenario, one of either Ravi Bishnoi or Washington Sundar would have to be benched.
Star fast bowler Mohammed Shami was omitted from India’s playing XI for the first two matches of the ongoing series, and even the prospect of playing the third match seems improbable. He shall be a vital player for India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and he shouldn’t be pushed too fast by the Indian team management.
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Once again all hopes will be pinned on Tilak Varma and Abhishek Sharma in the third T20I, whereas wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson would like to make a big score and contribute to the series win.
India’s likely playing XI against England: Sanju Samson (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ramandeep Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy
