India vs England: The final Combat

England take on India in the third and final ODI at Headingley on Tuesday. Both teams will look to finish the ODI series on a winning note as it will do a world of good to the teams going into the much awaited Test series starting from 1st August.

Virat Kohli’s side erred in second half of the England innings when David Willey and Joe Root took the game away from the visitors. The total that looked to end on a score way below 300, eventually ended on a huge score of 322 runs.

Joe Root answered his critics with a classy knock in difficult circumstances. He played a mature innings as he was running out of partners and proved his worth in the side. The only concern for the hosts is that they haven’t totally got rid of the “Kuldeep” mystery. Though they reached 322, they gave away three crucial wickets to the china man and its high time that the openers are more watchful against the uncanny spinner.

Eoin Morgan used his bowlers well to reduce India to a mere 236 and won the encounter by 86 runs. Virat Kohli and his troops will try to finish on a winning note just as they did in the T20 series. More than England, it is important for India to gain momentum into the Test series as it has always been an intriguing place for the visitors and especially the skipper Virat Kohli.

The think tank won’t tweak much with the batting line up in the final ODI despite the downfall at Lord’s. Whereas bowlers are doing a fantastic job upfront but they need to show character in death overs filling the void created by Bumrah’s absence. On the whole, it promises to be a blockbuster finish to the three match ODI series that begins today at 1700 hrs (IST).

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a part of the practice session on the eve of the final match. He will be available for selection post a fitness test as stated by Sanjay Bangar. If he is good to go, Siddarth Kaul will make way for the medium pacer.

England might as well make a forced change in top order as Jason Roy suffered a finger injury which might keep him out of the decider at Headingley.

England (Possible XI)- Jonny Bairstow, James Vince, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.

India (Possible XI)- Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal.