After suffering a one-sided defeat in the first T20I, South Africa bounced back strongly to defeat India by three wickets at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha, to level the four-match series 1-1. With the final two games set to be played at the Highveld, the Proteas will be quite confident about taking the winning momentum in the remainder of the series, with the third T20I set to be played at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
The star of the show for South Africa in the second T20I were Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee, who shared an unbeaten eighth wicket stand of 42 runs in just 20 balls, to take the team over the finishing line from a tough position. Earlier in the game, the South African bowlers were quite exceptional with the ball, taking early wickets in the power play before stifling the Indian batters to hit big shots consistently, to ultimately reduce them to 124-run total.
In this article, SportsTiger looks at South Africa’s probable playing XI versus India for the third T20I at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Openers: Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks
Ryan Rickelton has gotten a couple of flying starts in the first two T20Is of the series, but a big score from him could go a long way in South Africa putting India on the backfoot. Reeza Hendricks returned to playing XI of South Africa after missing out on being a part of the team in the first T20I, and his enterprising innings in the first eight overs of the innings helped set-up the run chase for the hosts in Gqeberha.
Middle Order: Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller
South Africa captain Aiden Markram’s struggle for big runs is well-documented for quite some time and he was dismissed cheaply once again in the second T20I. After Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller were removed from the crease for consecutive low scores by Varun Chakravarthy, who picked up a five-wicket haul in his spell, it was Tristan Stubbs’ calm and composed innings of (47* off 41) under pressure, which was vital for South Africa in levelling the four-match T20I series.
All-Rounder: Marco Jansen
Marco Jansen picked up the massive wicket of Sanju Samson, the centurion of the first T20I, for no score in Gqeberha, to nail a killer blow to the Indian batting innings early in the piece. In the run chase, when South Africa were struggling for some fluency, the management prompted him up the order at No. 5, to smash a few boundaries, but he was dismissed for just 7 runs in 10 balls.
Bowlers: Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter
Andile Simelane picked up the prize wicket of Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav for a rare low score, trapping him lbw front of the wicket in the second T20I, to put the visitors on the backfoot. Gerald Coetzee also picked up an early wicket of Abhishek Sharma in the power play stage, but it was his innings of (19* in 9), which was vital for South Africa to win the match and level the series.
The likes of Keshav Maharaj and Nqabayomzi Peter bowled economical spells for South Africa in the second T20I after getting the tap in the first game, and a yet another improved performance from them will be the need of the hour for their team.