It’s now or never for India as South Africa eyes series

With the series at stake, India take the field against the mighty Proteas, hoping to pull one back. The men from the rainbow nation have so far looked in fine touch as they eye a third consecutive series win against India in 2022, having won the Test and ODI series earlier this year convincingly at home.

On a surface which proved difficult to bat on for most, Team India’s batsmen could muster only a sub-par 148, which despite initial hiccups, the Proteas managed to surpass with ease thanks to a brilliant 46-ball 81 by Heinrich Klaasen.

With an eye on the World cup later in the year, India’s top-scorer of the second T20I, Shreyas Iyer, clarified that the team will take these defeats as a learning experience, and would not change their gung-ho approach moving forward. Apart from the showing of Iyer who has had two impressive knocks so far in the series, the form of Dinesh Karthik and Ishan Kishan will give the team enough encouragement to stage a comeback. Another senior pro in Bhuvneshwar Kumar seems to have found his rhythm with the ball which adds to Team India’s bowling depth once the senior pros in Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami make a return.

With plenty of firepower on the bench untested in the series, the management could well be tempted to make a change or two, especially as the spin department has looked toothless, picking up 2 wickets in 11.1 overs, having conceded 126 runs across the two games.

Match details:

India vs South Africa (3rd T20I)

ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vishakapatna

14th June 2022

7:00 PM

Head-to-head:

Total matches: 17

India: 9

South Africa: 8

Squads:

India: Rishabh Pant (Captain, WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya(vice-captain), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (C), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen and Marco Jansen.