3rd T20I: Unwell Axar and Bumrah out as India elect to bowl against South Africa

Dharamshala, Dec 14 Axar Patel is out due to illness, while Jasprit Bumrah misses out due to personal reasons as India won the toss and elected to bowl first against South Africa in the third T20I at the HPCA Stadium on Sunday.

The five-game series is now level at 1-1, and a win for either of the two teams will give them the lead. With Axar and Jasprit unavailable, captain Suryakumar Yadav said Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav have been included in the playing eleven.

“It’s been a good wicket all weekend and I don’t think it’ll change much, but there is a little bit of dew already and we feel it might get heavier later on. So, we’re happy to bowl first. It’s a wonderful place, wonderful people, and a fantastic ground. Hopefully when we bat and bowl, we can give everyone some good entertainment.”

“Every game is important. The way they played in the second game showed the beauty of this sport. What matters most is how you come back, and that’s what we want to do tonight, play our best game, enjoy ourselves, and be fearless. If we stay switched on for all three hours, that will be key for us. It looks like a good pitch,” he said.

South Africa captain Aiden Markram said Corbin Bosch, Anrich Nortje, and Tristan Stubbs come into their playing eleven in place of David Miller, George Linde and Litho Sipamla.

“Very cold, but it's a beautiful venue. It was a good response. It was nice to see that. Tonight it's important to perform. It's a challenge. We'll have to assess the conditions up front. Hopefully, we get a good score. We have played a couple of games here before and the boys are pretty excited,” he said.

Playing XIs

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakravarthy

South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram (captain), Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, and Ottneil Baartman

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