Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh were among the three changes India made for their third and final ODI of the series against Afghanistan on Saturday, June 20. Having already clinched the series with an unassailable lead of 2-0, the third clash might feel like a dead rubber, but it isn’t actually just another clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
India were asked to bowl first after Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss. The visitors made four changes, while the Men in Blue made three as they look for a series sweep, having already taken a 2-0 lead.ย
Why did India make three changes?
India were to experiment more for the third ODI. The same was hinted at by India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate when he sat with the media on the eve of the third game. “No, we will be making a few changes from the first two games,” the assistant coach said in the press conference.ย
“Part of the brief coming into the series was that we wanted to try a few different combinations and give everyone a fair share of games. Someone like Arshdeep has bowled very well in the first two games; he can probably take a rest tomorrow, and the same goes for one of the batters. We’ll swap them out and go back to playing a slightly different side.”
Harsh Dubey had impressed on his debut in the first ODI. He picked up 3/47 and had impressed in his comeback spells. Coming back to the toss, India were asked to bowl first after Afghanistan captainย Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss. The visitors made four changes of their own, with Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai returning in.ย
Teams:
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Darwish Rasooli, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, Fareed Ahmad Malik
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harsh Dubey, Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav
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