India look to plug the gaps in the third T20I against South Africa

India lost captain KL Rahul and spinner Kuldeep Yadav on the eve of the first game, but it still didn’t warrant a rethink. The selectors promptly elevated wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and made Gujarat Titans’ successful skipper Hardik Pandya his deputy. At the Kotla, it looked like things were going according to script as the Indians put up a mammoth 212 on the board and had the South Africans in a spot of bother early on but the visitors pulled up a stunning seven-wicket win with five balls to spare thanks to Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts at Cuttack and they found themselves 0-2 down in the five-match series. In both the matches, the Indians were in the game for quite some time. With the outcome of the series perched on Tuesday’s game at the Dr YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium, it’s time for the Pant led team to come up with some out-of-the-box thinking.

With head coach Rahul Dravid in the mix of things, there is no dearth of cerebral thinking but somehow the Indians have looked clueless in the first two games. They seemed to lack a strategy to counter the South Africans. There could be a few changes in the offing for the third game as the Indians will try to plug the gaps.

Ruturaj Gaikwad hasn’t looked comfortable in both the games and with Shreyas Iyer failing to force the pace against the fast bowlers, it has been left to Ishan Kishan to get the runs on the board. In the previous game, Axar Patel was sent ahead of Dinesh Karthik. Is Karthik only good to bat at the death? Wouldn’t it have been prudent to have given him more time in the middle.