Toss South Africa opt to bowl v India
Rohit said that getting to humid Guwahati a few days early has helped the home side acclimatise. He also said that the top order will have to be cautious early on while describing the pitch as “sticky.” He also expected humidity to be a factor.
Bavuma said that he hoped this surface would be “friendlier” for their batters after they were restricted to only 106 in the first T20I. Ngidi’s addition to the XI means that South Africa go in with the lone spinner in left-arm orthodox spinner Keshav Maharaj. However, both Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs can offer support with their part-time offspin.
India enter the contest with a 1-0 series lead and are aiming to seal their maiden T20I series win against South Africa at home. The visitors would be looking to take the series to Indore for Tuesday’s decider with a win at a ground where India have never tasted success in T20Is.
Both teams will keep an eye out for rain, though, which is expected later in the evening. The last time a T20I was scheduled here – against Sri Lanka in 2020 – the match was abandoned without a ball bowled.
India XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Arshdeep Singh.
South Africa XI: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Temba Bavuma (capt), 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 David Miller, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje 11 Lungi Ngidi.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
Source: ESPN Crickinfo