India vs South Africa
Cape Town, Feb. 23: India will eye a perfect end to what has been a rollercoaster tour when they take on a depleted but not completely deflated South Africa in the decisive third Twenty20 on Saturday.
Having suffered a minor setback in the previous game, India will look to recover and close out this eight- week long tour with a series’ win.
The three- match series is level at 1- 1 after the Men in Blue won the first T20I in Johannesburg by 28 runs. The Proteas bounced back in Centurion with a sixwicket win.
India have never played T20 cricket at Newlands. This will be their first such outing, while South Africa have a less than impressive record here. They have played eight T20Is, and lost five of them here.
The two wins came in the 2007 World T20 and as such the hosts have only ever won a singular bilateral T20I game ( against England in 2016) at Cape Town.
It doesn’t necessarily give the visitors an advantage. Through this limitedovers’ leg, South Africa have shown that they are more comfortable in the T20 setting, having won the rain- truncated Pink ODI as well as coming close while chasing 204 in the first match of this series, both at Wanderers.
Victory in the previous game will also be a reason for buoyancy in the Proteas’ dressing room. Stand- in skipper J. P. Duminy was adamant that they had well- set plans for Indian batsmen and bowlers since the start of this series but just needed proper execution as was showcased at Supersport Park.
It was hosts seen in how the made pointed on changes in their bowling plans, and then took the attack to India’s bowlers.
Duminy had named an unchanged eleven in the previous game, and it remains to be seen if they will bother breaking away from this consistency in the series- decider.
Jon- Jon Smuts hasn’t come good yet despite his big- hitting prowess, while David Miller’s poor form has spilled over from the ODIs. He was persisted with throughout that series, so there is no reason to doubt Proteas’ team will back come good at a juncture.
Jasprit Bumrah’s abdominal strain had forced India to make a change, but they will consider a couple spots for this finale. Bumrah’s fitness still remains a question mark.
Will the team management risk playing him given the shortened timeframe of this match? The fact that there is a twoweek gap before the triseries begins in Sri Lanka might coerce them into this gamble.
The bowling combination is the other concern. India have shown a propensity to field a leftarm pacer in this format, that the management him to crucial but Jaydev Unadkat has proven expensive so far.
He has picked up two wickets for 75 runs at an economy of 9.78. Yuzvendra Chahal has also been hammered ( one wicket for 103 runs in 8 overs at economy 12.87) and Heinrich Klaasen eager to face him once again. Given the scenario, Virat Kohli might just be inspired to change the look and shape of his bowling attack.
If Bumrah does play, Unadkat is likely to make way for him. Shardul Thakur used clever change of pace at Centurion and picked 1/ 31 in his four- over spell.