Yet to win a game in the ongoing tour of the U.K., a desperate India will most certainly include an additional pacer at the expense of out-of-sync leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi in the third T20 International against England here on Tuesday (July 7, 2026).
Under new skipper Shreyas Iyer, India have lost three out of their four games including a humiliating 0-2 series loss to Ireland.
Bishnoi, whose three back-foot no balls and a 29-run over cost India the second T20 International, had looked horribly out of rhythm during his wicket-less spell that leaked 60 runs in four overs at Manchester.
There were a lot of questions asked on whether conditions at Old Trafford warranted a third specialist spinner when Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy were already on board.
At Trent Bridge, there is little chance that Bishnoi, who was even dropped by his franchise Rajasthan Royals in the last edition of the Indian Premier League, will be considered for this particular game.
It is expected that a pace bowler will come into the eleven and Prince Yadav, with his ability to move the ball in the air and off the surface looks a better candidate compared to Prasidh Krishna, whose natural back of the length deliveries are easy to hit in the T20 format.
Arshdeep Singh got three wickets in the last game, including a double in his opening over, but he would also agree that the 27 runs that England skipper Harry Brook took off him wer also a big reason for the hosts chasing down the target of 191 with an over to spare.
While the third T20 International will be a day-night affair, the Trent Bridge surface promises to be a good one for batting where Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can enthral his legion of fans along with the in-form Abhishek Sharma.
Having played 90% of their matches on flat decks for the past six months, including IPL, the Indian batting unit is also struggling to cope with extra bounce, some off the surface movement and also the variations used by someone like a Sam Curran.
Skipper Iyer, and one down Ishan Kishan have got a few runs but they will be the first ones to put hands on their hearts and admit that they haven’t exactly dominated the English attack.
While Tilak Varma played a sweet cameo in the last game, it was more to do with the pace in Jofra Archer’s deliveries that he could work with. Otherwise, Varma has been kept quiet in the middle overs by slow bowlers and Curran.
In the last two games, India posted nearly identical scores of 189 at Chester le Street and 190 at the Old Trafford and on both occasions it seemed that they were 25 to 30 short.
The only one who has stuck to his original gameplan is Abhishek, scoring 59 and 43 playing 24 balls each on both occasions.
For Sooryavanshi, the debut is now out of the way and he would like to put the English attack to the sword.
England spinners like Liam Dawson, Will Jacks and Adil Rashid are all trying to take the pace off deliveries while Chakravarthy, whose form has been on the decline since the start of the T20 World Cup, is bowling way too quicker.
The last time India played a T20I at Trent Bridge was in 2022 when Suryakumar Yadav was ruling the roost in the format.
However, his spectacular 48-ball century couldn’t save the day for the visitors.
Squads
India: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Suryansh Shedge, Washington Sundar.
England: Harry Brook (captain), Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Jordan Cox, Sonny Baker, Luke Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Rehan Ahmed, James Coles.
Match Starts at 10 p.m.
Published – July 06, 2026 11:55 am IST
