Bengaluru: After sealing the three-match T20I series with back-to-back wins, there is all likelihood of Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma getting an opportunity to prove their mettle in the third T20I against Afghanistan at Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday.
And if these two make a match out of it, it will be top billing for them as they would have sealed a whitewash finish against Afghanistan ahead of this year's T20 World Cup to be organized in West Indies and the US.
The Indian batsmen have been in superb form and will be hoping to repeat similar performance with a better yield. Possibly, they would look to put on a bigger score, considering the history of the pitch in Head Coach Rahul Dravid's backyard.
On the flipside, Afghanistan have been good with their bat, but their bowling has been a disappointment that has proved their nemesis. As a testimony, one just cannot forget their bowlers giving it away in the ODI World Cup match against Australia, when an injured Glenn Maxwell delivered, batting on one leg.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen ul Haq, however, will be eager to set the tone with an objective to restrict India to a below-par total. The visitors also would bank on their spinners Mohammad Nabi, Noor Ahmed, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Nevertheless, Afghanistan batsmen may try to sizzle once again to recover some pride by defeating India before the series folds up.
Winning-wise, the deck does not favour either the chasers or target-setters. It has equally benefitted both. In a total of 17 T20Is played here so far, seven wins have come while batting first and nine chasing.
The average batting score ruminates around the 170 mark, while the average score batting second drops down to 150+. However, the real-time ground and atmospheric conditions will play a major role in captains making their decisions at the toss.
Rohit Sharma will be keen to make a comeback in the series finale after getting back-to-back ducks. He was unfortunately run out in the first match and cleaned up in the second.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who came in for Shubman Gill, displayed his batting skills with an outstanding 68 runs in the Indore match.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan.
