Follow UsIndia will take on South Africa in the fifth T20I in Bangalore on Sunday (June 19). The series is currently locked at 2-2. India have won every single bilateral T20I series at home after facing South Africa itself in September 2019. On the other hand, the Proteas have never lost a bilateral T20I series in India. Hence, there are two streaks on the line here.
Having said that, the Bangalore weather can play a spoilsport. The forecast suggests thunderstorms in the evening.
Ground Details and team combination
Covid-19 restrictions have deprived Bangalore of IPL matches which means the venue has hosted a handful of nine games since 2019, all of them in 2019 itself. The average first innings batting score in those games has been 163. The same in the second innings is 160 so there is not a lot to choose between the two. There is a similar pattern in the series as well. Two games have been won by the chasing side while in the other two, the team batting second fell flat on their face - 131 and 87 all out.
The spinners have picked only 39.6 percent of the wickets in this time frame. But don’t be fooled by this number. In the middle-phase of the innings (overs 7 to 15), the spinners have accounted for 23 of the 33 wickets.
Team Suggestion
The team we've picked has a good mix of world-class batters and bowlers. But remember, while you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. You can use this tool to build your team with the help of algorithms. Then, based on your preferences, the platform will guide you through creating the ideal fantasy XI.
Captain and vice-captain suggestions
For Small leagues: Yuzvendra Chahal (Captain), Harshal Patel (Vice-captain)
For Grand leagues: Quinton de Kock (Captain), Ishan Kishan (Vice-captain)
Stats That Matter
- Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal have picked 13 wickets between them in this series. Both are among the top three wickets in the series and if the South Africa batting continued on the same cliff it has been falling from in the last two games, Chahal and Patel are likely to be among wickets again. Chahal, especially, knows the venue like the back of his palm. The leg-spinner has 57 wickets at the venue, 25 more than any other bowler in T20 cricket.
- If India bowl first, which they haven’t done in the series as yet, Patel can be used as a captaincy option as well. In T20s since 2021, Patel has taken 11.6 balls per wicket while bowling first as compared to 15.1 balls per wicket when bowling in the second innings.
- Shreyas Iyer has hammered spinners at a strike-rate of over 192.6 in this series. However, the same number drops to 87.5 against pacers. In all likelihood, South Africa will target him with their fast bowlers. Hence, we suggest you look beyond Iyer for this contest.
- On a similar note, the Proteas have worked out Rishabh Pant. They have constantly bowled him wide of the off stump and the southpaw has called to the trap on three out of four occasions. Pant has 57 runs in four innings this series.
- Dwaine Pretorius is South Africa’s top wicket-taker in the series, fetching five wickets in four matches. In addition, he is slotted to bat at number three in the series, thus, emerging as the most efficient all-rounder you can pick for the last match of this series.
Grand League Punts
- Quinton de Kock hasn’t got going in the series. He has 36 runs in two matches. Alongside missing two games due to injury, he was run out in Rajkot. Considering his excellent form in the IPL and his great numbers against the India attack in white-ball cricket, he is due for a big score. No better occasion to step up than the series decider.
-Yes, we didn’t pick Dinesh Karthik in our suggested team but knowing he bats at six, there is a chance he might not get enough balls to bat. However, he is always a great grand league punt given the impact he can have in little time. If you want to go down that road, picking him over Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has had a mixed series, could be the way to go.
- Talking beyond numbers, Kagiso Rabada has been the best South African bowler in this series. He missed the last game in Rajkot due to an unspecified niggle but we expect him to be back in the XI for this series decider.
Probable XIs
India: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuveshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Dwaine Pretorius, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj ( c ), Lungi Ngidi