Chahal and Kuldeep under Pressure in Final T20I Game

Both the wrist spinners of India, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, were taken for runs and were rendered ineffective in the previous match where England won and levelled the series.

Cricket news: Chahal and Kuldeep to fight back against resurgent England

The spin duo will now have to face a tougher challenge against a ‘well-prepared’ England team when they both clash in the series-decider match on Sunday at Bristol.

It will be the first real challenge for the duo as no other team in the likes of Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa have picked them up as quickly as England has done.

After Kuldeep’s sensational five-wicket haul in the first match, he returned wicket-less in the second game. Even Chahal could not trouble the opponents and went for many runs.

India missed Jasprit Bumrah’s death bowling in the previous match where England hit three sixes. Umesh Yadav, who has replaced Bumrah, has picked four wickets in two matches but has also went for plenty of runs.

Despite the previous loss, India can still win their consecutive sixth T20I series win, the last defeat came against West Indies in July 2017, which was a one-off match. A series loss, containing more than one game, also came against West Indies at Florida in August 2016.

In between these two losses, they had beaten England 2-1 in January 2017, coming from 1-0 down to win the series, thanks to Chahal’s career-best 6-25 in the deciding game at Bengaluru.

The hosts prepared well against Kuldeep and a change in batting order also worked for them. Joe Root was sent up at number four, though it did not help him, but it helped Alex Hales to build important partnerships.

Hales came as a substitute for injured Ben Stokes, but now as Stokes is fit, he could replace the struggling Root. With Stokes in the scenario, England will get another seam-bowling option.

This could trouble the Indians as Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina and Captain Virat Kohli, all have struggled against short-pitch deliveries in the previous game.

Victory in the previous match would have led to experiment with the reserves as the likes of Manish Pandey, Siddarth Kaul, Krunal Pandya and Deepak Chahar are waiting on the bench.

But now everything is at stake and both the teams will love to win the series as this would boost up the confidence and add an extra bit of momentum to carry into the ODI series.