Overview:
Bumrah headed home after a close family member was hospitalised, PTI revealed, and Axar has been excluded from the remainder of the series due to illness.
India will try to clinch the series when they meet South Africa in the fourth T20I on Wednesday, December 17, at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium.
India tweaked their lineup for the third T20I in Dharamsala, replacing Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel with Kuldeep Yadav and Harshit Rana. With Bumrah and Axar yet to return, Kuldeep and Rana are likely to feature again in Lucknow.
Bumrah headed home after a close family member was hospitalised, PTI revealed, and Axar has been excluded from the remainder of the series due to illness. In Dharamsala, Harshit and Kuldeep chipped in with two wickets each as India secured a convincing seven-wicket win.
Sanju Samson’s non-selection has been widely debated. His absence from the first three T20Is has drawn attention, especially considering his excellent returns against South Africa. In four outings versus the Proteas, he has amassed 216 runs, averaging 72 at a strike rate of 194.59, with two hundreds.
Markram’s South Africa have made several changes to the playing XI in the series. With the upcoming game turning into a do-or-die fixture, the visitors are likely to go with their best available side.
South Africa is likely to add the experienced David Miller to the XI in place of Donovan Ferreira, with the former’s calmness in pressure moments much needed in the middle order.
India Probable XI : Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Tilak Varma, Varun Chakaravarthy
South Africa Probable XI : Reeza Hendricks, Tristan Stubbs, Donovan Ferreira, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Ottneil Baartman