Indian cricket team will be looking to finish high as they take on Australia in the fifth and last T20I match at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. Suryakumar Yadav-led side recorded an easy 20-run win in the last game to seal the four-match series despite missing out on senior figures.
The management made four changes to their playing eleven after losing the third game of the series with Shreyas Iyer, Jitesh Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, and Deepak Chahar coming in. It was an impressive all-round performance from the team with Rinku Singh and Axar Patel making considerable impact.
Now with the series win secured, the team is likely to tinker with their playing eleven for the final game. Young spin all-rounder Washington Sundar and big-hitter Shivam Dube warmed the bench for the first four games and might get a chance to impress in the last match. Both players have played a good amount of T20 cricket in Bengaluru and offer all-round skills to make their point.
Sundar is part of India's next T20I and ODI series against South Africa but Dube misses out with few of the senior players returning to the action. Axar Patel is likely to miss out despite claiming the Player of the Match award in the Raipur game but it will be interesting to see if Dube gets a chance in the playing XI.
With Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh being impressive in the finisher's roles, the management is likely to snub Dube again. Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma were dropped after a defeat in the third game and are unlikely to feature in the last game of the series.
In bowling, Mukesh Kumar and Deepak Chahar replaced Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna in the last game but the former failed to make an impact. Mukesh has taken only one wicket in three innings in this series but is likely to get another chance with Deepak and Arshdeep in the pace attack.
India Predicted XI for 5th T20I: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
