IND vs ENG 3rd T20 Playing 11: England unchanged for do-or-die game

England are trailing 0-2 in the five-match T20 series against India and need to win all three remaining games to win the series

England's tour of India has begun in the least preferred manner for the Three Lions. After two matches in the five-match T20 series, they are trailing 0-2 against the Men in Blue and are now in a do-or-die situation for the rest of the series. However, despite all the setbacks, the English side has decided to back their playing XI from the second T20 as they announced an unchanged XI for the third T20 in Rajkot on Tuesday. England continued their trend of announcing their squad a day prior to the game, just as they did for the first two T20s in Kolkata and Chennai, respectively.

 

England playing XI for the 3rd T20 in Rajkot: 

Ben Duckett, Phil Salt (wk), Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

 

Rewarding the efforts in Chennai

 

England failed in all three departments during the first T20 in Kolkata, as they were bundled out for just 132 while batting first and allowed the Indian batters to chase down the total in just 12.4 overs with seven wickets to spare. 

 

After the first match disaster, England made two changes as Brydon Carse and Jamie Smith came in for Gus Atkinson and Jacob Bethell. Suddenly, they looked like a much better side during the second T20 in Chennai. While batting first, despite losing some quick wickets, they managed to post a challenging total of 165 on the board and forced India to test their limits during the chase. At one point, England looked like favourites to win the match when they removed eight Indian wickets for just 146 runs. However, the southpaw Tilak Varma, with his masterclass innings of 72 not out, took India over the line with two wickets and four balls to spare.

 

Now, the team has decided to back the same playing XI for the third T20 in Rajkot in the hopes of finally securing a win and keeping the series alive.