India vs South Africa 4th T20I | India sees Pant in another winning game

Under pressure, Indian captain Rishabh Pant will be hoping to recover from his struggle with the bat and help the hosts improve their middle-overs game when they take on South Africa in the fourth T20 International here on Friday.

Save Pant’s troubles, India were able to bridge the gap to open their account in the series at Vizag with a sweeping victory, They will need another almost perfect game to take the five-match series to the decider.

Such is Pant’s talent that every time he has been written in all formats, he has found a way to make a comeback. The stage is set for them in yet another winning game for India.

batting struggle

The southpaw has been caught deep several times in the series when the ball is not in his hitting zone. Pant likes to hit in the cow corner area but the South African bowlers did not allow him to do so by bowling wide lines.

The hosts had a lightning start in the previous game, with Ruturaj Gaikwad scoring some much-needed runs and complementing Ishan Kishan, who has made a good case for being India’s reserve opener in the long run, including the T20I in Australia. Including the World Cup. later this year.

The two will look to make the most of the remaining two matches, followed by a doubles in Ireland, before the regular openers return to the playing XI.

Shreyas Iyer, who has been tested with the short ball regularly in the series, has yet to contribute significantly at number three and will be itching to replace that on Friday.

The home team struggled in the middle overs in Vizag to take the score close to 180 before Hardik Pandya came to the rescue of the team.

Pant’s men will aim to improve here and ensure that momentum is not lost through the innings.

Chahal and Akshar are good

India rely on their spinners in the middle overs and the biggest positive was the performances of Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel in the last game.

While Axar kept clean, Chahal got the fruits of bowling slow in the air. The twist and dip that had left him in the earlier games was back and looked at his best.

In the pace department, veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been remarkably consistent. Avesh Khan hasn’t scored many runs but hasn’t picked up a wicket in the series yet, while Harshal Patel, who relies on his variations to be effective, found his rhythm in Vizag and picked up four wickets.

South Africa, on the other hand, will look to back themselves to win the next game and seal the series. They are currently leading 2-1.

South Africa hope for de Kock’s return

The visitors will be hoping that their star batsman Quinton de Kock will make a full recovery from a wrist injury and will come with skipper Temba Bavuma at the helm.

After beating India in the first two matches, South Africa were on the receiving end in the third match, eventually losing by a huge margin of 48 runs. His batting failed miserably after a mixed performance with the ball.

Their spinners Tabrez Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj have conceded more than 10 runs in an over and the Indians are deliberately aggressive against them.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been their most impressive bowler and the hosts have given him due respect by not taking too many chances against him.

Although South Africa’s fielding has been fine, there is still a lot to be done for catches.

teams

India: Rishabh Pant (Captain & Wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendrix, Henrik Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Enrique Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwayne Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabariz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassi van der Ten , Marco Jensen.

The match will start at 7 PM IST on Friday.