CHENNAI: Buoyed by the win over Afghanistan in the 2nd ODI at Lucknow, India will look to make a clean sweep of the ODI series when they take on the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side in the third and final match of the series at the MA Chidambaram stadium here on Saturday afternoon.
Having already secured an unassailable 2-0 lead, the Men in Blue could experiment by trying a couple of youngsters.
Harshit Rana has been added to India's squad and he is making a comeback from injury that has sidelined him since February this year. However, Hardik Pandya is not part of the updated version of the official squad which included Rana. It is learnt that Hardik had suffered a leg strain while training at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru in the lead up to the series.
Ryan ten Doeschate, assistant coach of the senior team suggested that there could be some changes in the squad. 'We will be making a few changes from the first two games. I think someone like Arshdeep has bowled very well in the first two games. He can probably take a rest tomorrow," Doeschate told reporters in the pre-match press conference on Friday.
India will once again look to its skipper Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan who are in good form to put runs on the board.
Gill, during his knock of 154 at Lucknow, was in sublime form and would look to to continue in the same vein. Kishan has been in tremendous for form the last year or so across formats and IPL.
But Yashavi Jaiswal’s form is a concern. In the only Test against Afghanistan, he made 24. After sitting out in the first ODI in Dharamshala, he returned with only four runs in the 2nd ODI.
But once Virat Kohli returns to the side after recovering from his hamstring injury, he is certain to occupy the No. 3 slot. That would mean Gill would take Jaiswal’s spot. So Jaiswal needs to make the best use of the opportunities he gets.
“I think we want to have a look at Yashasvi as well. Obviously, if he can get around to the last game, he will probably get another goal. Maybe in combination, we need to look at Nitish (Reddy) again. Unfortunately, he couldn't play the last game," he said.
‘Lot to do to catch-up with Indian team’ Afg fielding coach
On the other hand, Afghanistan fielding coach John Mooney hopes to see his team finishes off the series on a high.
The Afghanistan players are not short of playing in Indian conditions. But the Lucknow game exposed Afghanistan's lack of experience in the 50-overs format.
"Obviously, we would like to sign off on a high. We fell down in a couple of areas. Tomorrow (Saturday) is another opportunity for us to put that right. I believe we have shown at times to compete with this Indian team. We just need to put the whole 50 overs back in the bowling and field it," said Mooney.
The former Ireland all-rounder admitted that they had scope to improve their batting and fielding.
"The players need to figure out how they structure their innings as batters. I think they have a lot more time than what they possibly think. The bowling, I suppose, being able to stick to a line in length and not give away as many boundary balls," Mooney said.
He said that the players need to get their basics right and consistently do that. "The takeaways from the series is that skills-wise they have a lot to do to catch up with this Indian team. The best players stick to the basics. They do the basics over and over and over. I feel that is an area where our players could improve going forward.”
He also was confident that Afghanistan would put up a better show as Chennai wickets is spin-friendly.
"We will obviously be hoping for our spinners to play a bit of a bigger part. Rashid has shown his class all the way through. We just need that second and third spinner to maybe step up a bit." signed off Mooney.