Washington Sundar benched, Tilak Varma in

The Indian cricket team made one change to their playing XI for the 3rd ODI IND vs SA in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. KL Rahul finally managed to end the Men in Blue’s winless streak in terms of the toss and decided to bowl first in the series decider. India have decided to replace Washington Sundar with Tilak Varma in the playing XI for the must-win match against the Proteas.

India plays XI for IND vs SA 3rd ODI

Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (with), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.
On bench: Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy

Sundar, who was ranked fifth in the batting order in the 1st and 2nd ODI, fared rather poorly. He only managed to score 1 and 13 runs in the two innings. Meanwhile, he was underutilized with the ball and bowled just seven overs in the two matches. Therefore, his exclusion from the playing XI is not a surprise.

Meanwhile, India took the lead with an extra batter in the playing XI in the form of Tilak. The Hyderabad star had warmed the bench for the first two matches as the team management decided to go for an additional all-rounder. It will be interesting to see how Varma performs in Visakhapatnam as he is expected to bat at the same position as Sundar – above Rahul at number 5.

Despite becoming India’s costliest bowler in the 2nd ODI, Prasidh retained his place in the playing XI. He will partner with Rana and Arshdeep to form the pace unit. Meanwhile, Jadeja and Kuldeep will be the two spinners.

Indian team for ODIs IND vs SA

Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (with), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant, Tilak Varma, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy.