SA vs IND 2024/25, SA vs IND 3rd T20I Match Preview

7 dias ago 0 3

Big picture – both teams have issues to resolve

This series is a bit of an odd one, with two sides below full strength, with a number of big names rested for more pressing commitments, facing off against each other in a format that has taken a bit of a backseat in terms of wider relevance, without immediate world event to build towards. It’s also weird because it lasts four games instead of three or five.

Despite all this, it has been extremely competitive and 1-1 could be setting itself up for a highly successful second half. After sharing the honors on the coast, South Africa and India now move into the rhythm, the real jump and the high altitude of the Highveld, with everyone at stake.

Given that both teams are testing young players and new combinations, neither team will place much importance on individual performance so far. But there are broader, team-level issues they may want to look at.

South Africa faced 16 overs from India’s two wrist spinners and scored 91 while losing 12 wickets. The format is different, but Ravi Bishnoi and in particular Varun Chakravarthy appear to be exerting the same kind of influence that Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal exerted in the ODI leg of India’s tour to this country in 2017-18, when they shared 35 wickets in five games.

India’s problem is structural and has cropped up from time to time in recent years: their batting in the first two T20Is appeared to have stalled at No. 7. They scored just 40 runs in the last six overs of the first matchand couldn’t turn around Sanju Sansãostormy century into a truly inspiring total. In the secondthey lost early wickets and never recovered thanks in part to a lack of depth.

How both teams resolve or work around these issues could very well determine how this series ends.

Form guide

South Africa WLLWL (last five T20Is completed, most recent first)
India LWWWW

In the spotlight – David Miller and Abhishek Sharma

In this series so far, David Miller was out twice to Varun – the second after a peach that went past his outside edge and bowled him for a golden duck – in 13 balls while scoring 14 runs. Miller prides himself on his spin game, which he has transformed over the last three years, and will no doubt work hard to pick out Varun’s variations and outperform him.

He announced himself with an audacious 47-ball 100 against Zimbabwe in just his second appearance, but his other eight T20I innings have brought Abhishek Sharma just 70 runs, with only two of them going past the ten-ball mark. Abhishek’s no-holds-barred approach, which is exactly what earned him his international call-up, carries with it the inherent risk of early failure, and getting the best out of him will require Team India’s management to ensure they judge him on processes rather than results. , helping him become a more complete player while supporting his attacking instincts.

Team News

Lutho Sipamla joined the South Africa squad for the third and fourth T20Is, and the fast bowler enters the series in good form. He received the Player of the Match award for his four wickets in the final of the CSA T20 Challenge in late October, and followed it up with another match-winning contribution for Lions against Titans, a first innings four-wicket haul in the series of 4 CSA days. If South Africa bring him into their XI, Andile Simelane or legspinner Nqaba Peter may have to make way.

South Africa (possible): 1 Ryan Rickelton, 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (captain), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (week), 6 David Miller, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Andile Simelane/Lutho Sipamla, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Nqabayomzi Peter

There is no quick fix to India’s batting depth problem in their squad, but they can still try to mix things up. Three players from his team are still awaiting their first T20I matches: fast bowlers Vijaykumar Vyshak and Yash Dayal and explosive lower-middle-order batsman Ramandeep Singh.

India (possible): 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Arshdeep Singh, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Varun Chakravarthy

Field and conditions

Centurion hosted two incredibly high-scoring T20Is in the space of two days last year. First, South Africa reached 131 in an 11-a-side contest, shortened by rain, only for West Indies to hit their target with three balls to spare. Then the hosts took spectacular revenge, with Quinton de Kock’s 44-ball 100 helping them to smash 259 in just 18.5 overs and set a new record of the biggest T20I chase. Expect lots of running, then, although the sharp bounce in place can also bring fast players into the game if there’s a bit of help from the surface. A clear and pleasant day is expected.

Statistics and curiosities

Of the six South African grounds to have hosted at least three T20Is since the start of the decade, the Centurion has been the highest scorewith teams batting going at 10.90 per over and averaging 33.25 runs per wicket.
Miller (81) has the more catches by a non-wicketkeeper in all T20Is.
Varun already has eight wickets in this series, and has a great chance, with two games to go, of passing the indian record of most wickets in a bilateral T20I series of nine, jointly taken by R Ashwin and Bishnoi.
Since its debut in July 2022, no Full Member player has made more wickets than Arshdeep’s 89 in T20Is. Arshdeep is on his way to taking over as India’s highest wicket-taker in the formatneeding just eight more to surpass Chahal’s tally of 96.

Quotes

“Everyone on the team hates losing. In the first game, we didn’t play our best, if you can put it that way. And then in the second game, all the focus was just trying to give ourselves the best chance to win. In the second game, we were much more focused on winning those little battles because in T20 two or three overs are actually. [significant]there is a lot that can happen. So for us, it was just a focus point in terms of trying to win these little battles. And I think we won most of the little battles, even though it was a low-scoring game.”
Versatile South Africa Marco Jansen

“I had a very good bowling partner in Jassi bhai. He helped me massively in taking a lot of wickets, creating pressure at the other end. So a lot of credit goes to him too. But the main thing is how well I can adapt to the conditions and situations of the game, how I can attack the batsman from the start and get some early wickets. And even in death how can I outsmart them and bring the game back into our hands.
India fast bowler Arshdeep Singh on Jasprit Bumrah’s role in his growth as an international cricketer

Karthik Krishnaswamy is assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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