India vs New Zealand, 3rd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

India off to a flier

Boundaries galore at the Eden Gardens in the powerplay. There was swing on offer in the opening over but Rohit and Ishan have been dealing in boundaries anyway. India race to 29 after just three overs. Vital three overs coming up for the visitors in the powerplay.

Toss - India opt to bat

No surprises there from India. They were criticised a touch for not challenging themselves by batting first but Rohit has finally made the right call now that he has won the toss again. India needs this challenge of setting totals. It let them down against Pakistan and New Zealand in the T20 WC and it's something they will look to rectify going ahead.

They have also rested KL Rahul and R Ashwin - two players who will be playing the opening Test in another four days time. Ishan Kishan gets a game finally after warming the benches and Yuzvendra Chahal returns to the XI as well. So, Avesh Khan will have to wait for his chance.

Tim Southee is resting himself ahead of the first Test as well and Mitch Santner is leading New Zealand in his absence. Lockie Ferguson is back in the XI.

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert(w), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner(c), Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal

Build up

The result of the series shouldn't surprise many despite the fact that New Zealand went all the way to the final of the T20 World Cup. By this time last week, this lot were ready to take on Australia in one of the biggest games of their lives. Not only did they end up losing it, New Zealand also had to pick themselves up to travel to another country and take the field again in less than 72 hours. No wonder there is so much scrutiny over the schedule these days.

India are also pretty much in the same boat. An early exit from the World Cup gave them a few days off but they have been playing non stop since the World Test Championship final. Even though some big names have been rested, the squad is strong enough and under the new regime, they have triumphed over New Zealand quite convincingly. Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma have handed opportunities to a few newbies and with the series now under the bag, expect them to ring in the changes once again tonight in the dead rubber.

Will they rest KL Rahul who has to pad up again for the New Zealand Tests? That might give a window for them to test Ruturaj Gaikwad. Avesh Khan is another name who might get a look in tonight. No matter what XI they go with, India are firm favourites to wrap this up 3-0. Welcome to the live blog for this final T20I. Hopefully, this game can give us something that the first two have failed to provide. A thriller.