Suryakumar Yadav won the toss for the first time in the four-match T20I series against South Africa and stuck to what has worked for them in their two wins so far. They will see South Africa chasing the Wanderers, in a match the hosts must win to avoid losing the series.

Both teams went in with the same XIs as they played at SuperSport Park, demonstrating India’s confidence in their specialist spinners even in conditions more suited to seamers. Varun Chakravarthy tops the list of wicket-takers with 10 to his name, double that of his nearest rival, Arshdeep Singh. Ravi Bishnoi and Gerald Coetzee are next with four wickets each.

South Africa have lacked consistent players with ball in hand, but have remained confident in a four-seam attack. Gerald Coetzee and Lutho Sipamla were particularly expensive on Friday evening, but Sipamla can be confident in his abilities on his home field where he put in a player-of-the-match performance in a domestic final ten days ago. . Keshav Maharaj remains the only specialist spinner. There was no room for Donovan Ferreira, Patrick Kruger, Ottneil Baartman or all-rounder Mihlali Mpongwana.

India don’t need backup wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma, or uncapped left-armer Yash Dayal and right-arm seamer Vijaykumar Vyshak. India cannot lose the series but a win will give them a fifth straight win in the bilateral series this year. They have won 23 of 25 matches in this format in 2024.