India Blue vs India Green, 3rd Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

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Teams:

India Green (Playing XI): Kaushik Gandhi, Prashant Chopra, Parvez Rasool, Aniket Choudhary, Mayank Dagar, Parthiv Patel(w/c), Amandeep Khare, Dhawal Kulkarni, Manprit Juneja, Varun Aaron, Nitin Saini

India Blue (Playing XI): Samit Gohel, Pankaj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina(c), Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan(w), Srikar Bharat, Jaydev Unadkat, Bhargav Bhatt, Akshay Wakhare, Ishant Sharma

India Blue have won the toss and have opted to bat

Preview:

For as furious as Suresh Raina was with the management of rain in the previous game, which according to him didn't allow India Blue to secure an outright win, they are well placed after having taken the first innings lead against India Red. When they take on the Parthiv Patel-led India Green on Tuesday (Septmeber 19), all they need to do is avoid a defeat, which doesn't seem a difficult proposition given the way the team played in their last match.

The interesting aspect of India Blue's approach in the previous game was the way they went about their business in different situations, with the highlight being the partnership between Deepak Hooda and Jaydev Unadkat. It was largely helped by the tip offered by Raina, who understands the local conditions pretty well. Even in the bowling department, they have Ankit Rajpoot, who has grown up playing cricket at Green Park. Having two local players in their ranks is invaluable, but what they will need to guard against will the urge to play for a draw right from the start. They have done well with their attacking brand of cricket so far, and that is something that should work well for them well.

The likes of Sagun Kamat, S Bharath and Abhimanyu Easwaran didn't get an opportunity in the previous game, and it will be interesting to see how many changes they make for the crucial encounter against India Green.

India Green, on the other hand, need nothing but an outright win. The good part about this is that, they will be on the attack right from the start. The absence of variety in their spin attack hurt them big time in the previous game as they fell on the defensive from Day 2 itself. The pitch in Kanpur should be much better than the one that was offered to them in Lucknow, allowing for a more fair game for not only both sides, but also for the batsmen, pacers and spinners in equal measure.

Kaushik Gandhi has been added to their squad, but given the strong batting order they posses, it seems unlikely that the Tamil Nadu batsman will get a chance to feature in the match. While R Samarth, Prashant Chopra and Karun Nair did a splendid job with the bat in the previous game, Murali Vijay, Ankit Bawne and Parthiv Patel haven't made the opportunity count. With only three batsmen firing in the previous game, they managed to post a 300-plus total on the last day in Lucknow. If all of them get going, India Blue bowlers can have a really hard time.

For the bowling unit, there wasn't really much to judge from. Aniket Choudhary was unused in the second innings, while Mohammad Siraj and Navdeep Saini hardly bowled. The spinners - Mayank Dagar and Shahbaz Nadeem - toiled hard, but the conditions didn't offer them much assistance. Despite their poor showing against India Red, it is unlikely that there will be any change in the side. What, however, could change, will be the approach with which they take on their opposition this time around. Expect a more aggressive captaincy from Parthiv. It's an approach they hadn't taken last time around. But with nothing to lose, that's the best card they can play as of now, in their bid to fix a final date with the already-qualified India Red.

Teams:

India Green (From): Ravikumar Samarth, Murali Vijay, Prashant Chopra, Karun Nair, Parthiv Patel(w/c), Ankit Bawne, Mayank Dagar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Aniket Choudhary, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Varun Aaron, Nitin Saini, Kaushik Gandhi

India Blue (From): Samit Gohel, Hanuma Vihari, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina(c), Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan(w), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhargav Bhatt, Akshay Wakhare, Ankit Rajpoot, Pankaj Rao, Srikar Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sagun Kamat