Indian left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav didn’t play the third against the West Indies in Indore. The 31-year-old was part of the first two games and picked up three wickets. Yadav also competed in all three ODI matches and took seven wickets to become India’s best bowler.

Prince Yadav was drafted into the playing XI as the home team won the game by 14 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Another change in the side was the inclusion of Nitish Kumare Reddy, who replaced Shivam Dube, with the latter playing the first two matches of the series.

Former India batter Aakash Chopra, in his chat on Star Sports, said the changes made, including the decision to bench Kuldeep, were in order to strengthen the batting. “If you go in with two pacers in white-ball cricket, the team will be in trouble.

If Arshdeep bowls two or three overs at the top, there is temptation to have him bowl one more to take a few more wickets, which leaves you with nothing in the backend of a game.”

The 48-year-old also added, “The fact is, none of the fast bowlers who played on Sunday can bat at number eight. In case players like Harshit Rana, Deepak Chahar, or Shardul Thakur were playing, then someone like Kuldeep could have played as well. Kuldeep would have been useful in Indore, since there was no dew and even Roston Chase did well.”

Bowlers led the team to a win

Defending 224 against West Indies was always going to be tough. Arshdeep Singh bowled a dream first spell, getting the wicket of Shai Hope for five runs.

Naman Dhir got the wickets of Shimron Hetmyer and opener Kamil Pooran. The off-spinner ended the day with figures of 2/39 from his three overs. Mayank Yadav bowled with great pace but failed to grab any wickets.

Axar Patel and Nitish Reddy claimed one wicket each, but the star of the night was Singh, who took 3/44 from his four overs. The fourth game of the series will be played in Hyderabad on Wednesday in what promises to be another high-scoring game. It will be interesting to see if the hosts retain the same combination or bring back Kuldeep.