Rohit Sharma’s Team have already clinched the three-match T20I series against South Africa 2-1 after their impressive 16-run win in the second game in Guwahati on Sunday (October 2). With just a couple of weeks to go before the ICC men’s T20 World Cup 2022 gets underway in Australia, the team management have decided to rest both Virat Kohli and KL Rahul from the final T20I match in Indore on Tuesday (October 4).
Although Team India will be hoping to whitewash South Africa 3-0 but they don’t want to risk injury to Kohli or KL Rahul, who scored back-to-back fifties in this series. “He (Kohli) has been rested from the final T20I,” said a BCCI official.
After the final game against the Proteas, Kohli will link up with the squad in Mumbai from where the team is scheduled to leave for Australia on October 6 for the T20 World Cup. It is expected that standby batter Shreyas Iyer will replace Kohli for the final game in the playing XI.
With Rahul also being rested with Kohli, the third T20I might finally see Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed make his international debut. Shahbaz was included into the squad to replace injured Deepak Hooda.
Sachin or ABD? Warne or Steyn? @arshdeepsinghh gets out to the test!
Catch #TeamIndia in action in the 3rd Mastercard #INDvSA T20I:
Oct 4, 6 PM onwards | Star Sports & Disney+Hotstar pic.twitter.com/2TSLFdbpIw
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 3, 2022
With Jasprit Bumrah also officially ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2022, skipper Rohit Sharma might try out Mohammed Siraj in this inconsequential third T20I against South Africa. Siraj along with Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar will be favourite to replace Bumrah in the World Cup squad.
In Rahul’s absence, either Suryakumar Yadav or ‘birthday boy’ Rishabh Pant may be asked to open the batting along side captain Rohit in Indore.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed
South Africa: David Miller, Temba Bavuma (c), Rilee Rossouw, Tristan Stubbs, Aiden Markram, Wayne Parnell, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj
