South Africa opt to bowl against India in third T20

India's captain Rishabh Pant (R) and his South African counterpart Temba Bavuma bump their fists after the toss before the start of the second Twenty20 international cricket match between India and South Africa at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday. Photo: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP

India's captain Rishabh Pant (R) and his South African counterpart Temba Bavuma bump their fists after the toss before the start of the second Twenty20 international cricket match between India and South Africa at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday. Photo: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP

Published Jun 14, 2022

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Visakhapatnam — South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to field first against India as they look to clinch their Twenty20 international series with Tuesday's third match.

The tourists, who lead the five-match series 2-0, come in unchanged in Visakhapatnam from their previous four-wicket win over India.

"Same thing, bowl again," Bavuma said after winning his third toss in a row.

"The (pitch) colour is different, has a yellowish tinge to it. Feels hard, looks like a good wicket to bat. Just want to focus on the areas we can improve."

India, who kept the same team, have failed to defend totals in their two losses but skipper Rishabh Pant expects a better performance from his team in the must-win match.

"We would have bowled as well. But as an Indian team we are not looking at the toss too much, just looking to play good cricket," said Pant.

"We spoke about getting better in execution. Planning and tactics are all fine, but if we can execute better we will be fine. Looks like a better wicket, but feels a bit soft underneath."

Teams

India: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (capt and wk), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (capt), Reeza Hendricks, Dwaine Pretorius, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje

Umpires: Nitin Menon (IND), Virender Sharma (IND)

TV Umpire: Anil Chaudhary (IND)

Match Referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)

AFP