India vs Australia, 3rd T20I: India Predicted XI

India and Australia are set to lock horns for one final time on the tour in Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday. The three-match T20I series is deadlocked at 1-1 and the decider promises to be cracker of a contest. The visitors would be high on confidence after their dominating performance in Guwahati and would love to sign off by beating the Men in Blue. They might not make any changes to their playing eleven and go for the kill in Hyderabad in their last game in the country.

Virat Kohli led side suffered a blip in their juggernaut at home in the second T20I and they would be thinking to shrug off that loss and again get back to the winning ways. Their bowlers have been consistently doing well and the batsmen need to be aware of Jason Behrendorff who scalped the top four wickets on Tuesday. However, they would be confident of toppling the Aussies and conquer all the three trophies.

Let us take a look at the predicted XI for India:

Openers (Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan)

Rohit Sharma has not been able to replicate his form in the ODI series into T20I series so far with the scores of 11 and 4. He is a dangerous player for any opposition on any given day and would love to cap off the series with a match-winning knock. Though he needs to be careful of Behrendorff who brings the ball into the right hander. He was dismissed in the similar fashion in Guwahati and should try to encounter that.

Shikhar Dhawan has not looked at his best since coming back after a small break. He is an aggressive player and his hitting in the powerplay is required if India had to post a big total while batting first. He remained unbeaten in the first match and would love to do the same on Friday. Six overs of Shikhar in the middle and soon the Aussies would be chasing the game.

Middle Order (Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni)

The skipper Virat Kohli was scalped by the visitors for his maiden duck on Tuesday and he must have countered a plan ahead of an all-important game. It would be interesting to see his approach early on in his innings and if he gets settled then there should not be any worries for India. Manish Pandey on the other hand, has time and again wasted the opportunity of cementing his place in the side. He needs to perform soon and what better than doing it in the decider.

Kedar Jadhav has sparkled in his brilliance throughout the series so far. He has not been consistent but he has also not endured a poor outing. In Guwahati he seemed to be in good touch before failing to read a google from Adam Zampa. He needs a good score though and needs to perform if the similar situation arises again. MS Dhoni is the best when it comes to wicketkeeping but his form in T20Is has gone down a little bit. Though the team management must not be mulling on his form as he is a champion player and knows how to come out of such situations.

All-rounder (Hardik Pandya)

Hardik Pandya turned 24 on Wednesday and the youngster would be looking to celebrate his birthday on Friday. He is capable of playing some huge hits over the ropes when needed and also can rotate the strike whenever required. His a complete player for India right now and if he comes good on his day, he can single-handedly win the game for his team. His bowling needs to be disciplined though as he dished out easy deliveries to the opposition in the last match while defending the small total.

Bowlers (Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra)

The wrist-spinning duo failed to make an impact for the first time in Guwahati. They were defending a small score and the dew settling in the evening didn’t help their cause either. But they have bamboozled Australians many times on this tour so they would be confident of doing it once again on Friday. Wicket-taking 8 overs from the duo would mean India will lift another trophy under the captaincy tenure of Kohli.

Jasprit Bumrah has been a class apart in the limited overs format since his debut. He has owned the death bowling overs with his ability to bowl searing yorkers. He has missed his mark very rarely so far and Kohli would love to see him doing that one more time perfectly. Bumrah has to improve on his bowling with the new ball as he has gone for so many runs upfront which puts the pressure on the other bowlers.

Ashish Nehra is expected to replace Bhuvneshwar only because he has announced his retirement from the International cricket. He deserves to play the last couple of games of his illustrious career. He has served India from 1999 and has not played in the ODI cricket since 2011 World Cup. But he has been the vital cog of the team in the shortest format and led the bowling attack in the 2016 World T20 which held in India. He would absolutely love to produce a match-winning spell for his team in the decider.