India vs South Africa: In-Form India Favourites to Seal the Series

• India lead the head-to-head scoreline against South Africa in T20 cricket with 12 wins to 8.
• India are coming off three consecutive victories.
• South Africa were hammered in the first match of the series by eight wickets.

India vs South Africa Odds

Odds for this match taken from bet365.

India vs South Africa Prediction and Pick

India and South Africa have battled each other on 21 occasions in T20 cricket, with India having an edge. The men in blue have 12 victories to their credit while the Proteas have won eight games. India have momentum and the home conditions make them favourites to win the second T20I on Sunday.

India to Win (-250)

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj/Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi

In-Form India Favourites to Seal the Series as South Africa Look To Bounce Back

India made pretty easy work of the visitors as they claimed the series opener in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. South Africa will be looking to put up a better performance to stay alive in the series when they take on the hosts at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday, October 2nd.

South Africa suffered a massive batting failure in the first T20I on a surface that offered plenty of movement and variable bounce. Some poor shots and some good piece of new ball bowling from Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh meant the visitors were reeling at 5 for 9 in 2.3 overs. Keshav Maharaj top scored for South Africa with 41 off 35 to somehow take the side past 100.

Chasing a small target of 107, India didn’t have a great start either, losing Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in 6.1 overs with the score reading just 17. Suryakumar Yadav showed his class and form, batting like he was playing on a different stripe altogether. SKY made 50 not-out off just 33 while KL Rahul rode his luck and played a decent anchoring knock of 51* off 56.

Team News

India have suffered a huge blow with the reports coming in that the ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah is likely to get ruled out of the upcoming T20 World Cup. Mohammed Siraj has been called in as the replacement for this series. For this fixture, India have Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel alongside Chahar. Siraj could get a go ahead of Chahar. In the spin department, India made a tactical call in the last game with Ravichandran Ashwin in the side, considering the number of left-handers South Africa have. The hosts are likely to stick with the same combination.

South Africa had a mostly predictable playing XI in the series opener. Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock opened the innings with Rilee Rossouw at one down. Aiden Markram, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs form the middle order. Their batting unit fell like a pack of cards in the previous outing and needs to do a better job. The bowling attack has Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje as frontline pacers alongside Wayne Parnell, who was prefered over Dwaine Pretorius and Marco Jansen. If South Africa decide to add another pace option, Jansen could replace Tabraiz Shamsi.

Key Players

Suryakumar Yadav: The 32yr old has been striking the ball as well as anyone has ever done. He looked at complete ease in the series opener, scoring a magnificent fifty off 33 balls on an extremely difficult track. Suryakumar has scored 976 runs in T20 internationals from 30 innings at an average of 39 while striking at an exceptional rate of 173. SKY has registered one hundred and eight fifties at the highest level so far.

Aiden Markram: The South African batter has underachieved immensely in his career so far but has managed to crack the shorter format. He has scored 747 runs in 24 T20I matches at an average of 41.5 while striking at an outstanding 150. He has registered eight fifties in 22 innings for the Proteas. Markram was superb in the IPL 2022, where he scored 381 runs at an average of 48 and strike rate of 139.

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