Ind vs Eng, 5th T20I: Visitors opt to field, Natarajan replaces Rahul (Toss)
Mar 20, 2021
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 20 : Eoin Morgan-led England won the toss and elected to field in the fifth and final T20I of the five-match series against India here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.
England did not make any change in their lineup from the third T20I and they are playing with the same side that played the last two games. On the other hand, India made one change to their lineup as the Virat Kohli-led side brought in pacer T Natarajan in place of opener KL Rahul.
Speaking at the toss, Kohli confirmed that he will move to the top of the innings as the team looked to bring in a balance between bat and ball and that saw Natarajan replacing Rahul. "Pretty happy, we would have bowled first as well. Looks like an even better pitch than the last game. As a side you understand the areas we need to improve and if we can get confident defending totals, this is something we are looking to execute well.
"We have made one change today. Wanted to bring in good balance with bat and ball. I will be moving up the order and SuryaKumar is that X factor player in our team and we want to give him as many games as possible. KL Rahul misses out and Natarajan comes in for him."
On Monday, Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) along with BCCI announced that the remaining three T20Is will be played behind closed doors looking at the number of rising Covid-19 cases in the country.
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar, T Natarajan.
England playing XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan (c), Sam Curran, Chris Jordon, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.