Skipper of the ‘Blues’ Rohit Sharma has won the toss and elected to bowl first, in the consecutive day of T20I match. The blues’ return to action following a humiliating loss to the Men in Maroon, which will also be a big subject during the huddle talk, will make for an intriguing contest for the Indian supporters. Rohit and his teammates will encourage one another to play naturally, and as we’ve seen in the past, Team India may try something new as well.
Teams:
Nic Pooran: We wanted to bat first as well, this is a ground where chasing is the preferred option. But now we need to put up a good score on the board and defend it. Credit to the bowling group, they performed well as a unit, they did come hard at us, but we stuck to our task. We did speak about the left-arm option, we spoke about it during the team meetings. That’s why we have one change today – Dominic Drakes is in, he replaces Odean Smith. We are backing our boys and it’s important to have the right guys in the right positions.
Rohit Sharma: We will field first, not because of the conditions, but this is what we wanted to do as a team. We want to capitalize on the powerplay, this is a small ground, a six hitting ground, but the average score isn’t high so we need to keep that in mind as well. The guys have been given the chance to express themselves, so the high-risk shots come into play, but we do understand that. I don’t know about that (if India has a weakness against left-arm pace). As a team we want to improve in all aspects of the game, but in the last few series, the left-arm seamers have done well against us. I don’t see that as a concern. It’s not that the guys are struggling, it happens when you’re trying to score quickly. But we do need to understand when we come up against certain bowlers, we just want to come out and express ourselves, that’s what we want to continue doing. Just one cnge, Jadeja has been rested, Hooda is in.
