Toss South Africa chose to bat vs India
India will chase for the second successive match, this time at the request of stand-in South African captain Keshav Maharaj. Regular skipper Temba Bavuma, as well as left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, were both ruled out of action with what Cricket South Africa called a “mild infection”. Bavuma has only played four matches since returning from an elbow injury that sidelined him for three months, scoring 11 runs in total.
Reeza Hendricks, who has not played a match on this tour despite scoring four T20I fifties in a row in England, was installed in Bavuma’s No. 3 spot while left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin replaced Shamsi. South Africa stuck to their strategy of having only one allrounder in the XI, with Wayne Parnell preferred to Andile Phehlukwayo. They also left out Lungi Ngidi, with Anrich Nortje coming in.
India made two changes in a match they have to win to keep the series alive. Washington Sundar, who was brought into the squad as a replacement for the injured Deepak Chahar, immediately found a spot in the XI. He is slated to bat at No. 6, with Ruturaj Gaikwad dropping out. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed makes his debut and replaces Ravi Bishnoi, who played his first match on Thursday, and was expensive.
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Janneman Malan, 3 Reeza Hendricks, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Keshav Maharaj (capt), 9 Bjorn Fortuin, 10 Kagiso Rabada 11 Anrich Nortje
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Avesh Khan
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent
Source: ESPN Crickinfo