What happened the last time India played a T20I in Ahmedabad?

Team India will host New Zealand in the final T20I of the three-match series at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 1. With the series level at 1-1, both teams will play out of their skin to win the rubber.

Meanwhile, pitches have been a debatable topic in the last two games. While Indian skipper Hardik Pandya expressed his shock over the Lucknow track after the second game, fans and former cricketers slammed the curator for preparing a turning wicket.

The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium will be closely monitored on Wednesday. So far, the stadium has hosted six T20Is, with the chasing side and the team batting first winning three matches apiece.

The last time the Men in Blue played at the venue was during the five-match T20I series against England in 2021. With all five matches played here, the series was evenly poised at 2-2 coming into the final game

Asked to bat first in the decider, the hosts posted 224/2 in their stipulated 20 overs. While Rohit Sharma (64) and Virat Kohli (80*) provided the team with a swashbuckling start, Suryakumar Yadav (32) and Hardik Pandya's (39*) late flourish guided the Men in Blue to a mammoth total.

In response, Jos Buttler (52) and Dawid Malan (68) put England on track after losing opener Jason Roy in the first over. But once Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Buttler, the Indian bowlers took control of the game, restricting England to 188/8, winning the game by 36 runs and also clinching the series by a 3-2 margin.

---

India vs New Zealand squads for 3rd T20I

India: Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Prithvi Shaw, Jitesh Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, and Umran Malik.

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner, Henry Shipley, Michael Rippon, Dane Cleaver, and Ben Lister.

---