India vs New Zealand 2017: India's probable XI for 3rd T20I

Virat Kohli is trusting the Dhawan-Rohit pair at the top, which has a flipside of its own, as the Indian captain himself gets fewer deliveries to face. As was witnessed in the last game, he had run out of partners by the time the innings reached the halfway mark, even though he did not do too much wrong in the whirlwind knock he played himself. A fragile middle order, coupled with Dhoni’s worrisome form in T20s, puts added pressure on him. But then again, he is the tsar of limited-overs cricket.

A glittering prospect for India in the future, courtesy his domestic cricket and IPL exploits, Shreyas Iyer was drafted into the team with the No. 4 spot turning into a thorny IIT entrance paper with multiple options, but no solution.

Iyer is ideally suited to play at the top of the order, but owing to the choc-a-bloc opening logjam, he can’t climb above Kohli in the batting order. He got to a start in the second T20I, but couldn’t capitalise, putting more strain on the batsmen succeeding him even as the run-rate went off the charts.

People baying for MS Dhoni’s blood isn’t something new: yet, at 36, the time has now come for the former Indian captain to carefully assess his role in the side and subsequently take a call on his T20 future. Dhoni seems to be wasting away at No. 6, since he can’t play the aggressor’s role from the word go in the 20-over format. A move up the order can be the only saving grace for the veteran.