ENG vs IND: Rohit-led India's batting in focus against England in winner-takes-all contest at Old Trafford

In the third and final match of the three-match ODI series between India and England, the Men in Blue, playing under the full-time leadership of Rohit Sharma for the first time outside India, will look to sort out the batting issues and come up with a dominating show to seal the series. The Indian team is in third position in the ICC ODI rankings and will have to forget the horrible display at Lord’s and come up strong against the defending world champions.

In the second ODI, which was played at the Home of Cricket, the Indians were bowled out for just 146 runs in reply to a 247-run target. English pacer Reece Topley dismissed six Indian batters for 24 runs in his 9.5 overs to register the best bowling figures in ODI matches by any Englishman. On Sunday, at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, he will again be the dangerman for the Indian cricket team.

India won the first game by 10 wickets to go 1-0 up and were in control by the end of the first innings in the second match as well, when their bowlers restricted the hosts to just 246 runs. But India failed to take advantage and could only manage 146 in return, thus losing the contest by 100 runs.

In the series decider on Sunday, India will be eager to come up with a better show and the focus will again be on India’s top-three of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli. The opening duo of Rohit and Dhawan has added more than 5000 runs as openers, and in an important game today (July 17), the duo will be looking to repeat the heroics of the first ODI, when they added an unbeaten 114 runs for the first wicket to take the team past the finish line.

Virat Kohli is arguably the greatest cricketer of current times, but he has been struggling with form for quite some time now. He will not be part of India’s trip to the West Indies and so, before going on a month-long break, he would like to silence the critics by making a big score. Virat, who has 70 international centuries to his name, last reached the three-figure mark in November 2019. In the five innings in England across formats, he has scores of 11, 20, 1, 11, and 16.

India’s bowling has been impressive with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal ruling the roost.

England, on the other hand, have not been able to perform as per their reputation in white-ball series so far. They were bowled out for just 110 in the first contest and 246 in the second. Had it not been for Topley’s sensational show at the ‘Mecca of Cricket’, England would have lost both the white-ball encounters against India at home.

They have already lost the T20I series 1-2, and if they are to win the ODI series, their batters must perform admirably. The likes of Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone and Buttler have failed to impress in the limited overs format and that has hurt the team’s chances. There will also be high hopes from Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, who missed the T20Is after playing in the one-off Test at Edgbaston at the start of this month.

India’s likely playing XI for the 3rd ODI against England: Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna/Arshdeep Singh.

England’s likely playing XI for the third ODI against India: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Craig Overton, David Willey, Brydon Carse/Sam Curran, Reece Topley.