India vs South Africa 3rd T20I: Can South Africa seal the series with two to play?

Does India's Old guard make a difference in Team India's Performance? 

Young team India, under the leadership of Rishabh Pant, has lost the first two T20Is by quite a considerable margin. On both occasions, the men in blue have failed to defend the target given by them. Pacers have been good with the ball, but spinners leaked many runs in the middle-over, shifting momentum to the opposition side. All this saw much criticism coming down to Rishabh Pant using bowlers as a captain and the lack of senior players in the squad. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar was there to lead the pace attack, the spin department missed the contribution of Kuldeep Yadav. Even Ruturaj Gaikwad struggled while opening, which KL Rahul would have filled in well. The absence of all the seniors and their experience makes Rishabh Pant rely on his intuition. Though he has captained in IPL, international games bring a lot more different pressure and situations that need the experience to tackle. Rohit Sharma as captain has not lost a match in this calendar year. This itself explains a lot about what a team is lacking.

On the other hand, Proteas have been mesmerising with the blade. They have benefited from the depth the team has to offer. While in the first match Rassie van der Dussen and their experienced man David Miller took away the game, chasing the target of 212. Klaasen's blazing knock of 81 runs in the previous match took the game away from the hosts on Sunday. Despite Bhuvneshwar shining with the ball to take a four-fer, efforts went in vain.

Pitch Report

This surface at Visakhapatnam has been used for only T20Is till now. They both have been low-scoring encounters won by the chasing team. In 2016, India bowled out Sri Lanka for 82 to win it in 14 overs, and in 2019, India restricted Australia to 126 and won by three wickets. This means the pitch has a lot to offer for bowlers and is a tricky surface for batters. With a 20% chance of rain to play a spoilsport on the match eve, the captain winning a toss will definitely look to bowl first. 

Stats to keep an eye on

• If South Africa wins the third match, and thus, the series will extend its unbeaten run in the white-ball series in India to 12 years. 
• Shreyas Iyer has a strike rate of over 220 against spinners of South Africa but has struggled against pace in this series with a strike rate of 76.19.
• Heinrich Klaasen has faced Yuzvendra Chahal in two T20Is. In 2018, he scored 41 off 12 deliveries and added 30 off 13 balls on Sunday.

Can Proteas seal the series win here in Visakhapatnam, or will India pave their way to winning this just when it matters the most? Whosoever wins, it will be another cracking contest for sure.