(AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)
Thiruvananthapuram: With series levelled at 1-1, India and New Zealand will aim to outplay each other in the third and final Twenty20 International match to seal the series at the Greenfield International Stadium here on Tuesday.
But the spectators might not witness full 20-overs each side because the series decider here is under rain threat.
The meteorological office here has also predicted that the weather will be generally cloudy with a few spells of rain or thundershowers starting from Sunday till Wednesday.
Apart from this, it will be a thrilling contest between the two team which are evenly matches on the paper as well as on the field.
To clinch the series, India have to display a better show in both batting and bowling department while New Zealand would like to continue with the same momentum.
India, comprehensive beat the visitors in the first match at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. In the second match, New Zealand bounced back in style and defeated India by 40 runs.
Opting to bat first on winning the toss, the visitors rode on an unbeaten quickfire century by opener Colin Munro to post 196/2 in their allotted 20 overs. Munro batted through the innings, smashing 109 runs off 58 deliveries.
In reply, the hosts could only manage to post 156/7.
So, in order to beat the visitors, Indian batsmen have to click this time. The middle-order batsmen like Shreyas Iyer, Manendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya have to click in unison.
The bowling department was also seemed struggling on the flat pitch. Apart from pacer Jasprit Bumrah, no other bowlers troubled the batsmen in the previous match.
Spinners also failed to step up to the occasion and were smashed all around the park. But, in the decider, the gloomy conditions and pitch might favour India.
India skipper Virat Kohli also have to make the plan for the Duckworth Lewis method which might come in the play.
New Zealand, on the other hand, displayed a brilliant performance. There only problem is the consistency.
In the first match New Zealand were outplayed in every department of the game and in the second match they grouped together and showed their class. So, in order to seal the deal this time they have to repeat the same performance.
The fans might see a interesting battle between both the teams if India and New Zealand played as per the expectations.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand : Kane Williamson (c), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips (wk).
(IANS)
