India eye series win against Proteas

India would hope that the challenging home assignment against South Africa, which has exposed a few chinks in the armour and thrown up difficult questions on selection, ends on a positive note when the two sides clash in the fifth and final T20 International on Friday. After being blanked 0-2 in the Tests, India bounced back to win the ODI series and now have an unassailable lead 2-1 in the T20Is after the fourth game was abandoned due to poor weather conditions in Lucknow on Wednesday.

That India cannot lose the series should be comforting to embattled head coach Gautam Gambhir given that the other two leaders in the camp — skipper Suryakumar Yadav and his deputy Shubman Gill — are battling challenges of their own with less than two months to go for the T20 World Cup. For someone who was ranked world number 1 not so long ago, Suryakumar’s form has sharply nosedived in the only format he is assured a place in the XI for India.

Having gone through 18 innings in 20 matches this year without a single half-century while averaging a poor 14.20 for his 213 runs, every failure for Suryakumar is adding to the concerns of the Indian camp. Gill’s return as vice-captain in the T20I format might have been perceived as one which put Suryakumar on notice a few months ago, but the former’s ordinary run with the bat since his comeback and the latest injury setback only hampers the team’s cause.

A toe injury suffered before the fourth T20I is set to keep Gill out of the final T20I here as India would want to take a cautious route, more so when there is a ready replacement for the top order slot in Sanju Samson. Earlier, Gill had missed most of the two-Test affair following a injury to his neck which he suffered in the series-opener in Kolkata, something that also highlighted his busy schedule and growing list of responsibilities in Indian cricket across formats.

Samson was never the right fit in the lower order as the lowest he has batted apart from the top slot is at number 5, where the right-handed batter has scored a mere 138 runs in eight matches at an average of 23. But each of his three T20I centuries and one half-century have come at the top slot in 14 innings, and in case of Gill’s unavailability for the final game, the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter would be keen to make it count.

Aside from this, India have a settled unit with both the all-rounders, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube, featuring in all three games so far In the pace attack, Arshdeep Singh is coming into his elements and is also beginning to forge a partnership with Harshit Rana with the ball. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah, who missed the third T20I due to personal reasons, joined the team’s camp before the fourth match.

A batting-friendly wicket here will pose a challenge to India’s best bowler in the series Varun Chakravarthy (6 wickets). For South Africa, who have blown hot and cold particularly with the bat in the T20I series, Friday’s contest will be an opportunity to end with the satisfaction of drawing a series against India. The Proteas could mull over bringing Aiden Markram back in the top order in place of Reeza Hendricks, who hasn’t found his rhythm on this tour. Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav and his deputy Shubman Gill.

But at the same time, the visitors would also want the young and dangerous Dewald Brevis to find his form after having ordinary outings in each of the three completed matches in the series. South Africa have also missed aggressive knocks from Marco Jansen, which made the ODI series such a tightly-contested affair but to their credit, Lungi Ngidi and Ottneil Baartman have done a fair job with the ball.

Teams:

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Shahbaz Ahmed, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Corbin Bosch, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Ottneil Baartman, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Lutho Sipamla.