India chose to bat vs South Africa
Suryakumar Yadav won the toss for the first time in the four-match T20I series against South Africa and stuck to what has worked for them in their two wins so far. They will make South Africa chase the Wanderers, in what is a must-win match for the hosts to avoid losing the series.
Both teams went in with the same XIs they fielded at SuperSport Park, demonstrating India’s confidence in their specialist spinners even in conditions more suited to seamers. Varun Chakravarthy leads the list of wicket-keepers with 10 to his name, double that of his nearest rival Arshdeep Singh. Ravi Bishnoi and Gerald Coetzee are next with four wickets each.
South Africa has not had consistent players with the ball in hand, but has kept faith in a four-seamer attack. Gerald Coetzee and Lutho Sipamla were especially expensive on Friday night, but Sipamla, on his own, can rely on his ability where he put in a man-of-the-match performance in a national final just 10 days ago. . Keshav Maharaj remains the sole spinning specialist. There has been no place for Donovan Ferreira, Patrick Kruger, Ottneil Baartman or all-rounder Mihlali Mpongwana.
India have not needed reserve batsman Jitesh Sharma, uncapped left-arm seamer Yash Dayal, or right-arm seamer Vijaykumar Vyshak. India cannot lose the series, but a win will give them the fifth consecutive victory in a bilateral series this year. They won 23 of 25 matches in this format in 2024.
South Africa: 1 Ryan Rickelton (week), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (captain), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (week), 6 David Miller, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Gerald Coetzee, 9 Andile Simelane, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Lutho Sipamla
India: 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (captain), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
