Double delight on the cards

Centurion, February 20 

A ruthless Indian team has only complacency to guard against while a deflated South Africa would be fighting another battle for survival when the two sides clash in the series-deciding second T20I here tomorrow. The Men in Blue won the first T20I at Johannesburg by 28 runs and a victory tomorrow will see them wrap up another series win on this tour. A competitive 1-2 loss in the Tests, followed by a comprehensive 5-1 ODI triumph, have made for quite a roller-coaster tour so far and the Indians would be aiming for a happy ending to the long sojourn with a T20 victory.

If India manage to take the T20I series 3-0, they would climb up the ICC T20I rankings and take the second spot behind Pakistan. However, if Australia beat New Zealand in the T20 tri-series final tomorrow, India would stay at their current third position.

Virat Kohli is likely to be fit for the game. The skipper had hobbled off in the later stages of the previous game following pain in his left hip. The team management had deemed the issue as “nothing serious”, hence he’s expected to walk out to the middle tomorrow. Kohli had suffered a slight knee injury while fielding in the first ODI as well, but he brushed it off to score a fine hundred in the next game. Even so, another injury scare only underlines his exhaustive workload. Wrapping up the series here might enable Kohli to take time off and sit out the final T20I in Cape Town, keeping in mind his hectic schedule over the next three months.

Slow pitch? 

The pitch at Super Sport Park has played slow throughout this tour, and it’s likely to stay the same for tomorrow’s game as well. In that light, India could bring back Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep Yadav to field two spinners in this match. 

Meanwhile, South Africa have their back up against the wall. The hosts have made wholesale changes, some forced and a few intended, to their squad. But, despite hitting the refresh button, they weren’t able to challenge the high-flying Indian team. AB de Villiers is ruled out of the series but Cricket South Africa has not named a replacement. So, JP Duminy must find solutions from within the available squad. The stand-in skipper was adamant that their plans at Wanderers, including the decision to bowl short to India’s top-order, were sound enough, and just needed proper execution.

It remains to be seen if the Centurion pitch will provide them enough bounce to try out the short-ball ploy once again, or they come up with Plan B this time around. — PTI