India and England are taking on each other in the fifth and final T20I of the ongoing series. The two sides meet at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on July 11th, and with the Indian team looking for their first win of the tour, many were surprised to see 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi out of the playing XI.ย
It is worth noting that the young prodigy was a part of the Men in Blueโs playing XI for the last three T20I matches against England, but like the side, he too was unable to impress. Registering scores of 14, 13, and 15 in his last three matches.ย
With his subpar performances, the Indian team opted to go with Sanju Samson as their opener for the clash against England instead of Sooryavanshi. Sanju was a part of Indiaโs playing XI for two T20Is against Ireland and the first T20I against England but was dropped in favour of Sooryavanshi for the remainder of the England series before the fifth T20I.ย
India opt to bowl first in Southampton
The clash began on a positive note for team India as the Men in Blue won the toss and opted to bowl first. Skipper Shreyas Iyer came forward and talked about the playing XI of the side and why they decided to go with Sanju Samson instead of Sooryavanshi in the side.ย
โWe are gonna bowl first, considering the bowling which we’ve done for the last couple of matches. I feel that we’ve tried, almost tried and experienced almost everything. So, today based on the conditions, windy, and also the weather seemed to be, we had a chat before, that they mentioned that the wicket won’t change that much. So, based on that, selected to bowl first,โ Iyer said at the toss.ย
โYeah, we’ve got two changes. Suryansh Shedge in for Washington and Sanju Samson comes in for Sooryavanshi. I feel this is the time we need to try what’s the best going forward for us as a team. So based on that, we decided this,โ he concluded.ย
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
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