Home
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma made three changes for the dead rubber against South Africa at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. As a precautionary measure, Arshdeep Singh has been rested. Mohammed Siraj has been included in the side as Arshdeep's replacement. Also, Shreyas Iyer and Umesh Yadav have replaced Virat Kohli and KL Rahul in the side. The top-order batters have been rested for the final T20I of the series.
“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, Kohli and KL are out, and Arshdeep misses out for some issues with his back. It is precautionary, 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,” Rohit said after winning the toss.
This will be Siraj’s first T20I after a long time. Siraj has been added to T20 World Cup 2022 standbys after Jasprit Bumrah got ruled out due to stress fracture in his back.
In the absence of Rahul, Rishabh Pant is likely to open the innings and Shreyas is expected to bat at no.3.
On the other hand, Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma made just one change in the side. Bavuma replaced Anrich Nortje with bowling all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius.
“Wasn't too sure on what to do today, not too fussed about losing the toss. As a leader, these are the kind of games you want to contribute. Hopefully, I can repay the team today. The series is out of our reach but this is our last opportunity we have to acheive a few objectives ahead of the World Cup. One change today - Dwayne Pretorius comes in for Nortje, just to give an extra option with a change of pace. We need to win today, it is a chance for some of our batters to find some form, and also as a group to try and click together,” Bavuma said at the coin toss.
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
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
