India go to 172/7 batting first in the third and final T20 against South Africa on Saturday.
Put in to bat first after Proteas skipper JP Duminy won the toss, India achieved a slightly below par score at Newlands, Cape Town.
The visitors were dealt a major blow even before the first ball was bowled. Talismanic leader Virat Kohli was ruled out of the match due to a stiff back, and Rohit Sharma was declared the stand-in skipper. This promotion, though, had no bearing on Rohit's performance. He once again perished cheaply, out LBW to Junior Dala.
Dala on the other hand, had a phenomenal outing. Picking up three wickets and effecting Shikhar Dhawan's run-out with a direct hit from the boundary.
Dhawan, though, played a decent hand. His 47, along with Suresh Raina's 43, propelled India to a respectable total.
India went in with three changes - Dinesh Karthik, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel were called up in place of Kohli, Jaydev Unadkat and Yuzvendra Chahal, respectively.
Having won the five-match ODI series already, India will aim to return home with two trophies. The three-match T20I series is currently tied at 1-1. India won the first game by 28 runs in Johannesburg, but tasted six-wicket defeat in the second after extraordinary innings from Henrich Klaasen and JP Duminy.
It will be a T20I debut for the India at Newlands as the tourists have never played the shortest format of the game in Cape Town. South Africa, on the other hand, have lost five of the eight games played at the venue.
Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni , Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah.
South Africa: David Miller, Reeza Hendricks, JP Duminy (capt), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Farhaan Berhadien, Christiaan Jonker, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Aaron Phangiso, Junior Dala, Tabraiz Shamsi.
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