IND vs ENG: Massive injury worry as Varun Chakravarthy misses final ODI in Ahmedabad

The final ODI between India and England, which is being played in Ahmedabad, is a huge game for both sides. It was Jos Buttler who won the toss and chose to bowl first. Varun Chakravarthy, who made his ODI debut on Sunday, was rested for the game after a slight niggle to his calf. Rohit Sharma said at the toss, “We have made some changes; Jadeja and Shami have been rested; unfortunately, Varun has a sore calf.”

The 33-year-old was named in India’s squad for the Champions Trophy as a replacement for Yashasvi Jaiswal. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was the biggest casualty, as he couldn’t recover from his injury in time and was replaced in the squad by Harshit Rana. It is a massive blow for India as they open their campaign against Bangladesh on 20th February. 

England made one change to their side as Tom Banton replaced Jamie Overton from the previous game. Tom Banton was flown into the squad as a replacement for Jacob Bethell, who has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to injury. The right-handed batter has been in a rich vein of form with the bat during the recent ILT20 series. The 26-year-old last played an ODI match for England in 2020 against Ireland. 

Last chance for both sides to iron their flaws

Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, is placed with Pakistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh in their group. England, who are yet to win the Champions Trophy, are in the same group as arch-rivals Australia, Afghanistan, and South Africa. 

Speaking at the toss, Buttler said, “We are going to bowl first today. may spin a bit later. We have batted first in the first two games so it will be a different experience today ahead of the Champions Trophy. It's a decent wicket; we played New Zealand in the World Cup a few years ago; it was a black soil pitch and it played better in the second half.”

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma said, “I wanted to bat first and put runs on the board because we bowled first in the last two games. It was important for us to get a win in the last game. The fielders portrayed themselves well in the last two games—a lot of young blood. We want to continue to do well in the field.". Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Arshdeep Singh make their way into the team for India. Ravindra Jadeja, who is on 199 ODI matches, will have to wait to get his 200th ODI cap for the Men in Blue. 

India XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (W), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh

England XI: Philip Salt (W), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (C), Tom Banton, Liam Livingstone, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood