3rd T20I: Bhuvi comes back for India, Rishabh Pant out vs Australia

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed the 2nd T20I against Australia, was brought back into the playing 11 for the third must-win game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Sunday. 

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl. 

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India are chasing a world record of most number of T20I wins in a calendar year. Rohit and co, with their victory in Nagpur, equalled Pakistan’s tally of 20. The series between the Men in Blue and Australia is tied at 1-1. 

Annoucing his playing 11 for the match, skipper Rohit Sharma said the team will look to maintain a winning momentum. Rishabh Pant misses out and India have gone with five full-time bowlers. 

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“We will bowl first. It’s good to be back in Hyderabad and play in front of this crowd. We look to keep winning games, it’s important to maintain your momentum in this format of the game, so it was a good win for us (in Nagpur). Australia have always been challenging, they bring in a different kind of challenge. We need to keep doing the basics right if we have to get success. The last win helped us gain confidence and I hope everyone steps up today. One change for us – Bhuvi is back, Rishabh misses out, we needed only 4 bowlers in the last game, so he (Bhuvneshwar) unfortunately missed out,” Rohit said at the toss. 

Australia replaced Sean Abbott with Josh Inglis. 

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“We would have fielded as well, it looks like a good wicket though. We always want to perform against the best sides, in that sense this is a very important game for us. The crowds in India have always been amazing, regardless of where they play. One change for us. Josh Inglis comes in place of Sean Abbott,” skipper Aaron Finch said. 

India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

Australia (Playing XI): Aaron Finch(c), Cameron Green, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Josh Inglis, Matthew Wade(w), Daniel Sams, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood