|| India Correspondent ||
Former India player and renowned commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar has opened up on India's combination for the fifth and final T20I match which will decide the winner between India and England in Ahmedabad on Saturday. And, Manjrekar feels that the Indian team management will back KL Rahul instead of Ishan Kishan even if he becomes match-fit.
Rahul has been out of form in the series and in three matches he could score only in single digits. Moreover, he has three ducks in his last five T20I innings. On the other hand, Ishan Kishan awarded the Player of the Match for his match-winning performance on debut and which was a knock of 56 runs off just 32 balls in the second match of the five-match series. However, he was out of the last encounter due to a groin injury.
"It gets a bit tricky now considering that this is a game both teams desperately want to win. I would love to have Ishan Kishan back if the niggle is out of the way but let’s see how it goes. I have a feeling Ishan Kishan may not play, which is unfortunate, and that niggle may have also helped the India team out because they want to keep backing KL Rahul. They want to give KL Rahul a long rope. He gets another game and they tell him that because you’re out of form and you're a class player, you'll get another game," Manjrekar said.
However, he also said that India will not bring change much in their combination for the decider. Even, they have preferred to play with an extra batsman throughout the series and they certainly wouldn't experiment too much in the decider by giving the chance to the players like Tewatia or Deepak Chahar.
"I think they are okay for the moment. You might think they are a bit batting heavy because very often they have not used all their batting because Washington Sundar is a batsman worth the salt in T20 cricket. I don’t see India making any changes with regards to the quantity of bowlers. Maybe, they will have a look at Washington Sundar and the pitch being the way it is and if they bowl again in the second half of the game, they might think of somebody like a Tewatia," he further added.
Both India and England stands at 2-2 with the final taking place on March 20 in Ahmedabad. After that, both teams will take on each other on a three-match ODI series in Pune.