India would be eyeing a perfect end to what has been a thoroughly roller-coaster tour when it takes on a depleted but not completely deflated South Africa in the decisive third Twenty20 International here 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. India has never played T20 cricket at Newlands, while South Africa has played eight T20Is and lost five of them.
As such the hosts have only ever won a singular bilateral T20I game (against England in 2016) at Cape Town.
Will Bumrah play?
Jasprit Bumrah’s abdominal strain had forced India to make a change in the second match and his fitness still remains a question mark.
Will the team management risk playing him given the shortened time-frame of this match? The fact that there is a two-week gap before the tri-series begins in Sri Lanka might coerce it into this gamble.
The bowling combination is the other concern. India have shown a propensity to field a left-arm pacer in this format, but Jaydev Unadkat has proved expensive with two wickets for 75 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal has also been hammered (one wicket for 103 runs in 8 overs at economy 12.87).
Given the scenario, Virat Kohli might be tempted to change the look and shape of his bowling attack.
If Bumrah does play, Unadkat is likely to make way for him. Shardul Thakuar used clever change of pace at Centurion and picked one for 31 in his four-over spell.
Another slower track
The Newlands pitch had played slow during the ODI series, and citing the example of Supersport Park, there is every reason to expect another wicket on the slower side, if not dual-paced.
Arguably, Chahal bowls a more consistent line than Kuldeep Yadav and this explains the latter’s omission from the first two games. However, with Chahal’s confidence hitting a bit low, Yadav could find himself in the reckoning.
Further, given South Africa’s frailty against change of pace, India might even be tempted to consider Axar Patel, thus increasing the onus on Hardik Pandya as the third-choice pacer.
The teams (from): India: Virat Kohli (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, M.S. Dhoni , Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat and Shardul Thakur.
South Africa: J-P Duminy (capt.), Farhaan Behardien, Junior Dala, Reeza Hendricks, Christiaan Jonker, Heinrich Klaasen , David Miller, Chris Morris, Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi and Jon-Jon Smuts.
Match starts at 9.30 p.m. IST .
