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India needs to step up its game against a resurgent South Africa to regain the lost ground on unfamiliar SuperSport Park conditions when the two teams clash in the third T20I here on Wednesday. Since 2009, India has played only one T20I at this venue, the last one in 2018 which it lost by six wickets. The team has only one survivor from that squad -- Hardik Pandya.
Along with that unfamiliarity factor, India will also grapple with the ordinary form of its batters, particularly since the pitch here is touted to be similar to the one at Gqeberha – quick and bouncy. In the second T20I, India batters struggled against South African pacers upfront, being restricted to 124 for six, and Centurion has similar characteristics. ALSO READ | Varun Chakaravarthy’s 5/17 in vain as India loses to SA by three wickets in 2nd T20I The problem starts from the top – more precisely with Abhishek Sharma, whose extended lean run with the bat has now snowballed into a serious concern.
He is in desperate need of a good outing here before the management thinks of juggling the combination. Even now, they can think of giving the job of partnering Sanju Samson at the top to Tilak Varma and bring in Ramandeep Singh in the middle to add more muscle to the unit. However, senior batters like skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik and Rinku Singh too cannot absolve themselves of the blame entirely for India’s struggles.
Both Suryakumar and Rinku have shown only fleeting images of their prowess here while Hardik made 39 in the second match but he consumed 45 balls for it. In fact, the power-hitter took 28 balls to find his first boundary and, again, could not find the ropes between balls 39 and 45. So, these three batters will have to chip in more to support in the in-form Samson or to carry India to a strong total even when the Kerala man has a vapid day.
Similarly, pacers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan had two contrasting games. Arshdeep returned with figures of one for 25 at Durban, but in the second game, he had stats of one for 41. The left-arm pacer’s third and fourth overs which went for 28 runs – including four fours in an over against Tristan Stubbs – made a deep impact on the low-scoring match.
ALSO READ | Gautam Gambhir on ‘team first’ ideology, handling pressure and adapting to conditions in Australia So, they will be eager to change the script here, unless the management looks at other options such as Yash Dayal or Vysakh Vijaykumar. However, the efforts of Varun Chakravarthy, who bagged a maiden fifer in the previous match, and Ravi Bishnoi over the last two matches have been outstanding and the spinners will be looking for an encore in the third match to hand back the advantage to India. The expected bounce and pace on the pitch here will be an encouraging factor as well for the Indian duo.
From a batting perspective, South Africa too face a similar issue as senior pros skipper Aiden Markram, David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen are yet to fire in this series. They required runs from less-pedigreed batters Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee to get over the line in the second contest, and the Proteas will certainly cherish a heftier contribution from their veterans, especially against Indian spinners. Teams: India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya.
Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh. Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal. South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottneil Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen.
Heinrich Klaasen, Patrick Kruger. Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Mihlali Mpongwana, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton. Andile Simelane.
Lutho Sipamla, Tristan Stubbs. Comments Related stories Related Topics India / South Africa / Centurion Latest on Sportstar.
