With the series levelled at 1-1, India will play New Zealand in the final Twenty20 International on Wednesday in Motera, Ahmedabad. After losing the first match in Ranchi by 21 runs, the hosts won the low-scoring match in Lucknow by six wickets on Sunday.
Going into the third T20I, the men in blue may be faced with a few difficult decisions to make regarding the playing eleven. They may have to bring in some of the players warming the bench to replace players who have underperformed expectations. Following a string of domestic cricket performances for Mumbai, Prithvi Shaw was called up to the India squad ahead of the series.
Despite skipper Hardik Pandya’s support for Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan as the series’ first-choice openers, it appears that the Mumbai opener may finally get his chance with Kishan not being able to fire. Kishan has only scored 63 runs in five T20I innings for India this year, with a strike rate of less than 90.
As per reports, Shaw might replace Kishan for the final T20I match in Ahmedabad. However, Kishan has been serving as the Men in Blue’s primary wicketkeeper in this series. In his absence, India will either have to replace Shubman Gill with Jitesh Sharma or Rahul Tripathi will have to don the gloves. It will be interesting to see who they replace and what India’s Playing XI in the match is.
On the other hand, Umran Malik is also expected to return to Playing XI after missing the 2nd match. Yuzvendra Chahal, the leg-spinner, had taken his place in Lucknow due to a turning wicket that proved difficult to play on.
In the meantime, fans on Twitter were elated to hear the reports of Prithvi Shaw making his comeback in the Playing XI. “Hopefully, he gets some good game,” a fan prayed. On the other hand, some fans thanked Sai Baba for this. Notably, Shaw had posted images of Sai Baba when he was overlooked by the Indian team.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Prithvi Shaw’s news
Sai Baba ki jai
— kikrate (@kikrate) January 31, 2023
??? pic.twitter.com/5ibI4Bb3My
— ????????? (@vinoo_96) January 31, 2023
Level of Wicket Keeper like from Pant it has gone down to Tripathi??
Come back soon Pant— Aagam1903 (@AagamParmar) January 31, 2023
Shaw in place of Kishan and Jitesh in place of Tripathi …. This will be change for 3rd T20 I ….
— Amit Patel ? (@jingalalazulu) January 31, 2023
Should replace gill instead
— Swarley (@Blahhulk) January 31, 2023
Nice I was expecting This Feeling Good About My Instincts
— Girish Pawar (@PawarGirish05) January 31, 2023
— Ams (@weeb_ams) January 31, 2023
So that means Jithesh gets a chance too? Great.
— unbiased user (@theunbiaseduser) January 31, 2023
Sai Baba to Shaw: pic.twitter.com/zO9e75PD9U
— Ana de Armas stan (@abhithecomic) January 31, 2023
Hopefully he get some good game
— Aditya Pratap Singh (@AdityaP54930774) January 31, 2023
