India vs West Indies, 3rd T20I, Eden Gardens. Match preview.

Impressive half-centuries from Kohli and Pant in the 2nd T20 led India to win the 6th consecutive T20 series at home. Hosts will be testing their bench strength and the visitors will be playing for their first win in this tour as well as to avoid another whitewash.

Kishan's two slow performances with 42-ball 35 and 10-ball 2 in the first and second T20s will not go unnoticed and Gaikwad may replace him as an opener in the 3rd T20. Kohli and Pant will not be available hence Shreyas Iyer is likely to replace Kohli and Kishan will keep the wickets. D Hooda may replace V Iyer. S Yadav is likely to bat at 4. Bhuvi showed his class in the death overs and so did Harshal. India has A Khan, M Siraj, S Thakur in the race to replace B Kumar and D Chahar in order to test the bench. Yuzi is just 1 wicket away from becoming the highest wicket-taker for India in T20I.

Visiting openers failed to impress in the first 2 matches except K Mayers was in fine touch. We may see some changes in the batting order as well. D Drakes may replace S Cottrell and H Walsh may replace A Hossein. Pooran, Chase, Holder, and Pollard will be the core of the team. R Chase dismissed Rohit twice in this T20 series. He came in for Holder in the 1st T20 and was retained for the 2nd one.

WI has lost 3 of their last 5 T20 matches and needs to keep the upcoming T20 World Cup in focus.

Probable Teams:
India: R Sharma(C), R Gaikwad, S Iyer, S Yadav, I Kishan(WK), D Hooda/V Iyer, H Patel/S Thakur, D Chahar/M Siraj, B Kumar/A Khan, R Bishnoi/K Yadav, Y Chahal.

WI: K Mayers, B King, N Pooran(WK), R Powell, R Chase, K Pollard(C), J Holder, R Shephard, A Hossein/H Walsh, O Smith/D Drakes, S Cottrell.

Pitch:
Due factor makes Eden Gardens more attractive to win-the-toss-and-chase kind of ground. Any team winning the toss is likely to choose to bowl first.