Team India look more or less sorted on the road to the Champions Trophy. Mohammed Shami’s fitness complaints have fallen silent, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill are scoring runs aplenty, Ravindra Jadeja has rediscovered his wicket-taking touch and, most importantly, captain Rohit Sharma has broken free of his poor run with the bat.
But even then, two issues still bug India. Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to a lower back injury.
And will Virat Kohli do a Rohit Sharma and regain his free-flowing form?
Kohli will have a great chance to do so when India take on England in the third and final ODI of the series in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Why is it a good chance? First of all, with India already having won the series courtesy their wins in the first two games, there will not be much pressure. Secondly, Rohit’s tremendous return to runs in the last game might serve as an extra push for Kohli to bring out the best in him too.
The England attack has so far failed to gain an upper hand on the India batters, despite Jofra Archer and Mark Wood’s express pace, and so it is all the more reason why Kohli should be able to pad up with a free mind.
For a player of Kohli’s class, it’s seldom about technique, it’s mostly about the mind space where he has to beat the demons. The former India captain, who needs 89 runs more to get to 14,000 in ODIs, has in the past overcome tougher hurdles.
England, on the other hand, will aim to get a win under the belt before they travel to Pakistan for the ICC event. Ahead of such a big tournament, it is never a comfortable position to be in if a team has been blanked 3-0 in a series. As that threat looms large on Jos Buttler’s men, they should be eager to finish their India tour with a win.
On the team front, India might consider bringing back Kuldeep Yadav into the XI? Varun Chakravarthy replaced the left-arm wrist spinner in the last game, but India might need Kuldeep’s guile when they play their Champions Trophy matches on the flat pitches of Dubai. So it’s better to keep him ready.
