New Delhi: India made three changes to their playing XI for the third and final ODI against Afghanistan at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. KL Rahul miss when Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first.India have already sealed the three-match series with a 2-0 lead and are aiming for a sweep after their massive 170-run win in Lucknow.
Why KL Rahul is not playing vs Afghanistan?
India brought back Prasidh Krishna, Harsh Dubey and Nitish Kumar Reddy for the Chennai ODI. As a result, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul were left out of the playing XI. Nitish returns after missing the second ODI due to a sore left thigh, while Ishan Kishan takes over the wicketkeeping duties.Interestingly, Indian captain Shubman Gill did not explain why Rahul was not present when he spoke about the toss.After losing the toss, Gill admitted that India would have preferred to bat first at Chennai’s ground.“It looks like a very good wicket. I would have batted first again. It was very hot in the last match and it will be no different here. It’s about being consistent in the areas we are looking for. We will be chasing the game, chasing big scores regularly and comfortably and one place we have never recorded what Prasi is changing today. Harsh and Nitish Reddy are back,” said Gill.Afghanistan’s ambassador Shahidi said that the conditions and his movements helped him in his decision to strike first.“We want to bat first today. It’s always hot in India this month. The wicket looks good. It’s dry and firm. We hope we’ve got off to a good start with the batting. In the last two games we missed some areas and didn’t play like we’ve played before. We hope that we will recover today and have good relationships and plates in the right places. Four changes. Nabi is back, Azmat is playing. (From his hand) Zia ur Rahman and Fareed Malik are inside,” said Shahidi.Afghanistan made four changes to their side, bringing in Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi and Fareed Ahmad Malik.
India vs Afghanistan 3rd ODI : Playing XI
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Darwish Rasooli, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, Fareed Ahmad Malik.India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (capt), Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harsh Dubey, Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav.