Virat & Co. gear for final hurrah

Mt. Maunganui (New Zealand), Feb. 1: Invincible so far, India will eye a rare 5-0 whitewash against a bruised and battered New Zealand in the final T20 International here on Sunday. New Zealand have never lost all games in a bilateral T20I series (three or more matches) at home.

Since 2005, they have only once lost all games in a bilateral T20I series at home, going down 2-0 to England back in February 2008. While this puts India in a unique position going ahead, they will still stay fifth in the ICC T20I rankings behind Pakistan, Australia, England and South Africa.

India will have their mind set elsewhere though, pertinently the experimentation cycle ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia. The fourth T20I was a step in that direction, but it mostly came to nought with the likes of Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube wasting their opportunities.

Samson has been promoted

up the order in his limited opportunities against both Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and has been dismissed while attacking the bowling. The team management would want him to show more patience, while backing him to come good once again.

Meanwhile, Dube has lacked footwork against both spinners and pacers. Elsewhere, with Manish Pandey firming up the number six spot, Shreyas Iyer could be promoted to number three. The bigger question is about the keeper-batsman spot. Ever since the Australia series at home, K L Rahul has played with an increased workload in that role. Pre-series, skipper Virat Kohli had more or less confirmed that Rahul would continue to keep in the ensuing threeODI series.