Johannesburg, (UNI) In just 33.2 overs that have been played in the ongoing three-match T20I series so far, some positives of India and South Africa players have come to the fore in the runup to the T20 World Cup next year.
To summarise, Suryakumar Yadav’s fifty, Reeza Hendricks match-winning 49, Tabraiz Shamsi’s blossoming as a T20 bowler and Rinku Singh’s unbeaten 68, were some of the positives to glean over. And that’s not all that bad, considering the first game was washed out due to rains, and the second was rain-hit.
Against this backlog, both the sides will be hoping for a full T20 game tomorrow at the Wanderers. and even if it happens, they will be taking the field without the services of their key players. And even further, the hosts have reduced their cache of players, releasing Marco Jansen and Gerald Cotzee to play in a four-day game ahead of the Test series against India.
India also are without a player of the calibre of Deepak Chahar due to personal reasons as their seamers looked ordinary in the last match, may be due to tacky wicket, but they would like to get their screws right in the decider.
Spinners have been impressive, but Johannesburg is a different wicket altogether where they would hardly get any help, and the avaricious batsmen could be waiting with bated breath to target them.
All eyes will be on Mathew Breetzke as he is getting another chance to cement his place in the T20 team after being omitted from the ODI team. He had a superb start in the last match, making 16 off 7 balls, but was unfortunately runout and missed the opportunity to play the role of an anchor.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, for India, also squandered the opportunity to showcase his talent, and was dismissed for a duck after facing three balls in the last match. Nevertheless, he will be keen to notch up a good knock tomorrow, and try to overcome the challenge of playing in South African conditions.
In Jansen and Coetzee’s absence, either Nandre Burger or Ottniel Baartman may find a place, but the former stands a good chance due to his extra pace. Donovan Ferreira may also find a place as an extra allrounder.
Ruturaj Gaikwad missed yesterday’s match due to illness, and could replace Shubman Gill if he has recovered. Kuldeep Yadav may be rested for Ravi Bishnoi, even though conditions are unlikely to offer too much to either of them.
Against all these odds, India will be eyying to bounce back on a bouncy Wanderers track by squaring off the three-match series 1-1.
Teams
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(C), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
South Africa: Matthew Breetzke, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi.
