Table of Contents
India vs England fifth and final T20I match is set to be played at The Ageas Bowl, West End, Hampshire. England have already sealed the series against Shreyas Iyer’s India, as they are on the lead of 3-0.
If Harry Brook’s side wins the final match, they will surpass the India National Cricket Team to secure the No.1 rankings in T20Is. India would not like to be clean swept as they have already lost two back-to-back series for the first time since 2018/19.
The toss was delayed because the Men in Blue were stuck in traffic, and the toss happened 30 minutes later than the scheduled time. Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first, and they made two changes in the playing XI, with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi dropped, Sanju Samson coming back to the side, and Suryansh Shedge coming into the side for Washington Sundar.
Shreyas Iyer joins hands with MS Dhoni
After Shreyas Iyer won the toss, he achieved a unique milestone in terms of tosses, as he joined hands with MS Dhoni with the most consecutive toss wins as an India captain in T20Is. He and MS Dhoni have won 7 consecutive tosses for the Men in Blue side. Iyer surpassed the record of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Previously, Virat Kohli had won 6 consecutive tosses in a row in 2019, and then Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni won five consecutive tosses each back in 2020-22 and 2007, respectively. However, Iyer's fate has not been in his side's favour despite winning the tosses; he has failed to win a game since being appointed as captain.
"Experienced almost everything"- Shreyas Iyer on India being stuck in traffic
During the toss, Shreyas Iyer mentioned that the team management have tried and tested every possible combination, and he has also experienced every worst possible thing, and he believes that the wicket will not change much, so he decided to bowl first.
"We are gonna bowl first, considering the bowling which we've done for the last couple of matches. I feel that we've tried, almost tried and experienced almost everything. So, today based on the conditions, windy, and also the weather seemed to be, we had a chat before, that they mentioned that the wicket won't change that much. So, based on that, selected to bowl first."
"(Bit of a hiccup in a delay to getting to the ground. Has that affected the team at all?) Not really. I personally feel that we've seen almost everything in this series and also the one which we played before. So, another challenge, another day altogether. We are up for the challenge and it's a great opportunity overall."
India vs England Playing XIs
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
England (Playing XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue
