🏏South Africa Tour of India - 3rd T20I - Indore- 04/10/2022 🏏 - Page 2

The Guwahati run-fest on Sunday was a rather successful demonstration of the batting template the Indian management had been harping on for the last year, but T-minus one game from launching their 2022 T20 World Cup campaign, the spotlight has shifted on to bowling. 

For the game, India have also rested two of their top three - KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. And while Shreyas Iyer will walk into the XI unquestioned, the extra spot could be used to audition an extra pacer right away. 

A toss-up between Mohammad Siraj and Umesh Yadav tomorrow would likely be a hint of who takes up Mohammad Shami's place in India's World Cup reserves should he be approved as Bumrah's replacement.

Good Luck Team India 🥳

thanks for the tag🤗

Series in the bag. Today will be about ironing out a final few chinks ahead of the T20 World Cup Down Under, specially in the fast bowling department where Team India need an unexpected last minute suture. At least two out of Deepak Chahar, Mohammad Siraj and Umesh Yadav will get an open audition tonight, to try impress the selectors to fill in for the Jasprit Bumrah sized hole at the World Cup. The team management also indicated that KL Rahul and Virat Kohli will be rested for this game, with Shreyas Iyer walking back into the side as the only reserve batter, while an additional bowler or bowling all-rounder gets picked to complete the XI.

SA  came to India as one of the most settled and dangerous T20I sides, having won away to England. But suddenly their top-order can’t buy them a run, and that much feared pace battery has been smashed for plenty. It’s a question of whether South Africa can still keep the faith in them, especially with talented guys like Reeza Hendricks, Tabraiz Shamsi and Heinrich Klaasen warming the bench. The Holkar Stadium has small boundaries and the pitches have generally been belters. Expect another run fest today

finale f the series right

Happy Birthday Rishabh Pant 🥳

Pitch Report: First thing to draw your attention to, it's a small stadium. 63 metres in the off side, 60 metres on the leg side. It's always a good pitch in Indore, this is one of the surfaces where the bowler's wouldn't want to bowl at. There are a few cracks that could help them, but the size of the ground is a worry. Even a few mishits could end up out of the ground.

Quinton de Kock: It has taken a couple of years to get to where I am. I still try to remain a youngster for as long as I can, trying to prolong that as much I can. When you walk into the team and start getting called an old man and stuff like that, it starts catching up. It's hard to put a finger on it, I thought David Miller batted really well, he came out with intent (in the last match). It was quite difficult upfront. We just said we'll try to bat on, but didn't expect that close. To finish like that, I don't think it would have happened without him. It was always a tough ask to get there after losing early wickets. It was a bittersweet ending. Although we lost, we had to celebrate (Miller's century) as a small token of celebration for him. It (a century) doesn't come quite often to guys batting at 5 and 6.

India have won the toss and have opted to field

Rohit Sharma: We're going to field first. It's a very high scoring ground, I feel the pitch won't change a lot so nice to know what target is in front of us. Three changes for us, Rohit and KL are out, and Arshdeep misses out for some issues with his back. It is precautiounary, nothing serious. We've got Shreyas Iyer, Umesh Yadav and Siraj in. We want to keep challenging ourselves, keep improving and keep batting the same way.

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): Temba Bavuma(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj