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  5. IND vs ENG 5th T20I | KL Rahul dropped, Virat Kohli to open against unchanged England; See full Playing XI

IND vs ENG 5th T20I | KL Rahul dropped, Virat Kohli to open against unchanged England; See full Playing XI

KL Rahul, who has been struggling to get big scores on the board, was dropped to accommodate pacer T Natarajan.

India TV Sports Desk Written by: India TV Sports Desk New Delhi Updated on: March 20, 2021 18:48 IST
IND vs ENG, India vs England 5th T20I, IND vs ENG 5th T20I
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Virat Kohli-led Indian side

Eoin Morgan-led England won the toss and elected to field first in the fifth and final T20I of the series at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday. While England went with an unchanged side, India made one change to their Playing XI. 

KL Rahul, who has been struggling to get big scores on the board, was dropped to accommodate pacer T Natarajan. In Rahul's absence, skipper Virat Kohli will move up the top alongside Rohit Sharma. Natarajan's last T20I outing was against Australia in the three-match T20I series, where he picked up six wickets. 

"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," said Kohli at the toss.

"We will chase and the last game there's a lot of dew. The wicket looks good and hopefully, it's a good game. We have to try and adapt to the conditions and we are very excited about tonight. 

"We are still looking to improve and I think we have been consistent throughout the whole series and the bowlers have a massive tick there. We are playing the same team," said Morgan after winning the toss.

After clinching the fourth T20I, the Indian side will be hoping to win the fifth and final match and clinch the T20I series 3-2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/30) and Hardik Pandya (2/16) put up an inspirational bowling show after Suryakumar Yadav's batting masterclass. Suryakumar's 31-ball 57 and Shreyas Iyer's 37 helped India post their highest total of the ongoing T20I series.

India's latest victory on Thursday came while defending a target of 186 runs. The pitch for the final match is likely to be a black soil wicket and could see plenty of runs.

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar, T Natarajan

England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

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