IND VS SA: Bad weather spoils the game in Lucknow, India will go to win the series, all eyes are on Suryakumar’s performance.

Ahmedabad. Amid questions raised over selection and some weaknesses exposed, India will try to end the challenging series against South Africa on a positive note by registering a win in the fifth and final T20 International cricket match to be held here on Friday. After losing the Test series 0-2, India made a spectacular comeback and won the ODI series. They now have an unassailable 2-1 lead in the T20 series after the fourth match was abandoned due to bad weather in Lucknow on Wednesday.

It is sure that India cannot lose this series now which should be a relief for head coach Gautam Gambhir as two key players of the team, Suryakumar Yadav and Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill have been struggling to score runs for some time now. The form of Suryakumar, who was the world number one player till some time ago, is a matter of biggest concern for India. He did not score a single half-century in 18 innings in 20 matches in T20 this year. During this period he scored 213 runs at an average of 14.20. Gill’s inability to perform in the shorter formats will also be a matter of concern for India ahead of the T20 World Cup to be held early next year.

He was injured during practice in the last match, due to which his participation in the final match is doubtful. The Indian team will not consider it appropriate to take any kind of risk as it has a good option in the form of Sanju Samson at the top of the order. Samson was never a good option to bat lower down the order. He has performed well as an opening batsman but has not been able to perform as expected in the middle order. He has scored all three of his T20 International centuries while playing at the top order.

If he gets a chance in case of Gill’s unavailability in the final match, this wicketkeeper-batsman from Kerala will try to take full advantage of it. Apart from this, the Indian team looks balanced as both all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dubey have been included in the playing eleven in all the three matches played so far. Arshdeep Singh is coming into his rhythm in the fast bowling attack while Harshit Rana has also performed well. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah, who could not play in the third T20 International due to personal reasons, has joined the team before the fourth match.

The pitch here is considered favorable for batting which will pose a challenge to India’s best bowler in this series, Varun Chakravarthy (six wickets). As far as South Africa is concerned, the performance of its batsmen has been up and down. If it has to level the series, its batsmen will have to perform at their best. The South African team may consider bringing Aiden Markram back to the top order in place of Reeza Hendricks. Reeza Hendrix has not been able to regain his rhythm on this tour. Apart from this, South Africa will also expect good performance from young batsman Dewald Brevis, who has not yet lived up to the expectations. South Africa has also missed the aggressive innings of Marco Jansson, but Lungi Ngidi and Otnel Baartman have performed well in bowling.

The teams are as follows:

India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Hardik Pandya, Shahbaz Ahmed, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Dewald Brewis, Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Corbin Bosch, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Yanson, George Linde, Otneil Baartman, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Enrique Norkia, Lutho Sipamla.

The match will start at 7:00 pm Indian time.