India made three changes for the third and final ODI against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Two of them were tactical, while one was forced. India captain Rohit Sharma, who was sent into bat by his counterpart Jos Buttler, confirmed the same at the toss on Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after being included in India’s Champions Trophy squad in place of open Yashasvi Jaiswal, spinner Varun Chakaravarthy was ruled out of this match due to an injury. “Varun, unfortunately, did not pull up well,” said Rohit at the toss.
Chakaravarthy, who made his debut two days ago in Cuttack, hurt his right calf. “Varun Chakaravarthy was unavailable for selection for the 3rd ODI due to a sore right calf,” BCCI gave an official update moments after Rohit’s announcement.
There were no updates on the extent of the injury, but the Indian team management would be hoping it is not serious as India have already finalised their Champions Trophy squad, and any changes now would require approval from the ICC technical committee.
Chakaravarthy was replaced by Kuldeep Yadav. The left-arm wrist spinner also needs some game time after having a low-key return to international cricket after an injury layoff in the series opener in Nagpur.
The other two changes were tactical. Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was given a breather as India decided to give a match to Washington Sundar. The same for Mohammed Shami, who is set to lead India’s pace attack in Dubai in a week’s time. T20I specialist Arshdeep Singh was drafted into the XI for the first time in this ODI series. He is set to share the new ball with Harshit Rana, who was picked as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement for the Champions Trophy.
This being the last match before the tournament starts on February 19, India wanted to maximise this ODI by giving as much game-time as possible to all the squad members.
When asked about the two debutants Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana, Rohit said the team management has tried to keep the pressure off them. “They are pretty new in their careers so we want to keep the pressure away from them, let them do their own and they have got a lot of potential,” he said.
India won the first two ODIs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Teams:
England: Philip Salt(wk), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Tom Banton, Liam Livingstone, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh.
