Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss for the third consecutive time in the T20I series. After opting to bat first for the first time in the series, Rohit made a few changes for the dead rubber clash against New Zealand at Eden Gardens. After taking an unassailable lead in the three-T20I series, Rohit rested two senior players KL Rahul and R Ashwin to make way wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan and Yuzvendra Chahal in the side.
“Pitch looks a little sticky and we want to challenge ourselves as a batting unit. We gotta try various things and this is one of them. We want to put runs on the board and give the new set of bowlers a target to defend. KL and Ashwin are rested. Ishan and Chahal come in. We are very clear as to what we want to do that's why Ishan has to wait for his opportunity, Chahal as well, he has been a champion bowler for us,” Rohit said after winning the toss.
At Eden Gardens, Kolkata, Mitchell Santner came out to toss instead of Tim Southee as the latter has been rested for the final T20I. In Southee's absence, Lockie Ferguson makes a comeback in the side.
“Last few games it has been wet because of the dew. There has been dew throughout. Whatever we do we have to do it well. We have been close, lost a couple of phases especially in the last game during the middle with the bat, we got off to a great start.. But that's just the way. The Indian openers have come out and build partnerships. We are not far away and hopefully we can put up a complete game today. That's (Southee) the only change,” Santner said.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal
New Zealand Playing XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (wk), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner(c), Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
