Ruthless India have only complacency to guard against while a deflated South Africa will be fighting for survival when the two sides clash in the second T20 International at Centurion
India captain Virat Kohli (left) celebrates the dismissal of South Africa's David Miller with his teammates during the first T20I at The Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday. Pic/AFP
A ruthless India has only complacency to guard against while a deflated South Africa would be fighting another battle of survival when the two sides clash in the series-deciding second Twenty20 International, here today. The Men in Blue won the first T20I at Johannesburg by 28 runs and a victory today will see them wrap up another series win on this tour.
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A highly competitive 1-2 loss in the Tests, followed by a comprehensive 5-1 ODI triumph has made for quite a roller-coaster tour so far and the Indians would be aiming for a happy end to the long sojourn with a T20 victory. A prospective 3-0 series' win would also help India climb up the ICC T20I Rankings and take up second spot behind Pakistan. However, if Australia beat New Zealand in the T20 tri-series' final (on Wednesday as well), India would stay on in their current third position.
Will Kohli be fit in time?
Word from the Indian camp is that Virat Kohli will be fit in time for game. The skipper had hobbled off in latter stages of the previous game on Sunday with a left hip problem. The team management had deemed the issue as "nothing serious", and as such, he is expected to walk out at toss time today. Kohli had suffered a slight knee issue while fielding in the first ODI at Durban as well, but he brushed it off to score a fine hundred thereafter. Even so, another injury scare only underlines his exhaustive workload. Wrapping up the series here might also 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.
If at all, India do need to consider his absence from this second match, then KL Rahhul would come in as replacement. He was left out from the previous game in favour of Manish Pandey, but now comes back into reckoning owing to Kohli's pending fitness ruling.
Few changes expected
However, it is not expected to be the only change to the playing eleven. While India have shown a propensity recently to play a left-arm pacer in their T20I eleven, Jaydev Unadkat's inclusion in the Wanderers game was perhaps down more to the good batting conditions on offer. The pitch at Supersport Park has played slow throughout this tour and the same is to be expected once more. In that light, India could once again opt for two spinners in the eleven, and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav comes back into reckoning. Even left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who hasn't got a game on tour yet, could be considered given his ability to keep things tight.
Meanwhile, only last Tuesday, South Africa had faced a do-or-die moment in Port Elizabeth and now have their backs up against the wall for a second time in eight days.
AB de Villiers is now ruled out of this T20I series (with a left knee problem) as well but Cricket South Africa has not named a replacement. So, JP Duminy must find solutions from within the available squad. It remains to be seen if the Centurion pitch will provide them enough bounce to try out the short-ball ploy once again, or indeed if the Proteas have thought of a plan 'B' this time around.
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