Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has urged the Indian team to pick their best team to win the third ODI against Bangladesh. The Tigers had taken an impregnable lead of 2-0 in the series after winning the second game by five runs.
However, India will be without the services of Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Sen and Deepak Chahar as the trio have been ruled out with respective injuries, India head coach Rahul Dravid had earlier confirmed.
India haven’t been able to bring their best to the table in the first two matches as they haven’t come up with a collective effort. The visitors had the home team under the cosh at 69-6 in the second game but the Tigers went on to post a par score of 271 runs.
Furthermore, India’s batting unit has also failed to fire at all cylinders, which has led to the downfall of the team.
“They have to pick their strong side. It’s a matter of finding confidence for the Test match that follows. The composition of the Test squad and the ODI squad is going to be a little different,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports.
“But against a team that is batting and bowling so well, Bangladesh have been outstanding. India need to win this. India need to reduce the margin to 2-1. Win the 3rd ODI and get their confidence up and try and win the Test in Chattogram,” Gavaskar added.
KL Rahul will lead in Rohit Sharma’s absence and he would want to help his team end the series on a high.
Meanwhile, Abhimanyu Easwaran is expected to replace Rohit Sharma for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh. Moreover, either Mukesh Kumar or Umran Malik could replace injured Mohammed Shami for the Test matches. Shami is yet to recover from the right shoulder strain, which had ruled him out of the ODI matches.
The third ODI will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram on Saturday.
