India vs England 3rd T20I 2025 | Preview and Predictions

After a dominant win in the opening game at Eden Gardens, visitors England made India sweat for the win in Chennai and looked set to steal a win before Tilak Varma shepherded a nervy chase for the hosts.

With India 2-0 up in the five-match series, England have to win the third T20I to keep themselves alive in the series. Ahead of the third T20I, here are our match preview and predictions.

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India vs England 3rd T20I | England Tour of India 2025 | 19:00 IST, January 28, 2025

After a horror-show with the bat at the Gardens, the English batters came out with a much more positive mindset in Chennai. On a turning track, once again it was only Jos Buttler who looked comfortable, while Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, and Jamie Smith all got starts but failed to counter the spinners. Some crucial late order fireworks from Brydon Carse saw England reach a respectable 165.

With the ball, it was Carse as the star once again, mixing up his pace brilliantly while the experienced veteran Adil Rashid was miserly, giving nothing to the Indian batters. While all of the bowlers used by Buttler chipped in with wickets, his star bowlers Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both leaked runs and were extremely expensive given the target they were defending.

The Indians, on the other hand, were clinical with the ball once again, with Arshdeep Singh providing a first-over breakthrough once again. The spin quarter of Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, and Ravi Bishnoi picked up five wickets among them, but more than that they gave nothing away, keeping the visitors in check. On slow tracks, Hardik Pandya has stepped up as the second seamer as well, coming in with the new ball and being flexible enough to come back for a spell right at the death as well. 

With the bat, though, the hosts were poor, especially after losing a couple of early wickets, while Tilak Varma and Washington Sundar tried to rebuild the innings, post Sundar’s dismissal, senior all-rounder Axar Patel threw his wicket away, bringing England back into the game, and the visitors would have run away with an unlikely win had it not been for Varma along with the calm-headed Ravi Bishnoi to see India home to a two-wicket win. India’s middle order has struggled in both games, and captain Suryakumar Yadav will expect a better performance from himself and his batters. 

The Rajkot ground is a high-scoring ground, which should bode well for the struggling visitors, who would want to flaunt their explosive style. With their backs against the wall, count on Jos Buttler’s men to hit back strongly after finding some form in Chennai. In a high-scoring game, we have the visitors as the slight favourites to take a close win on a pitch, which should bring lots of runs and provide something for the fast bowlers as well.

Fantasy XI: Abhishek Sharma, Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Suryakumar Yadav, Harry Brook, Tilak Vama, Hardik Pandya, Brydon Carse, Arshdeep Singh, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer

Venue: Rajkot
Winners Prediction: England