Raina dominate Protea bowlers in powerplay overs

Major changes in the squad for India in the final T20I. Virat Kohli misses out due to stiff back. Dinesh Karthik replaces Kohli. Jasprit Bumrah back in the squad in place of Jaydev Unadkat. Axar Patel replaces Yuzvendra Chahal.

live scorecard, India vs South Africa 3rd T20I, Cape Town

Raina dominate Protea bowlers in powerplay overs

Despite losing Rohit Sharma in the second over, it has been a brilliant start for India. Boundaries have come thick and fast for the visitors in the decider. Raina has clobbered balls all-around the park in the powerplay overs. India are 57 for 1 after 6 overs.

Dala draws first blood for SA

After collecting two consecutive boundaries off Morris in the first over, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma is trapped in front. Dala draws first blood for South Africa. Sharma walks back to pavilion after scoring 11. India 22-1 after 2 overs.

India playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma(capt), Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey,MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Dinesh Karthik.

South Africa playing XI: David Miller, Reeza Hendricks, JP Duminy (capt), Heinrich Klaasen(wk), Farhaan Berhadien, Christiaan Jonker, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Aaron Phangiso, Junior Dala, Tabraiz Shamsi

Team News

Major changes in the squad for India. A total of 3. Virat Kohli misses out due to stiff back. Dinesh Karthik replaces Kohli. Jasprit Bumrah back in the squad in place of Jaydev Unadkat. Axar Patel replaces Yuzvendra Chahal.

Two changes in South African team. Christiaan Jonker and Aaron Phangiso replace Dane Paterson and Jon-Jon Smuts.

TOSS: South Africa yet again wins the toss and opts to field first against India at Cape Town

Hello and Welcome to the live coverage of the India vs South Africa 3rd T20I at Cape Town. We are back to the place from where it all started. This time for the last encounter of the tour. After showing resilience in the Test series, India tormented the hosts in the one-dayers. With T20 level at 1-1, India will look to end the tour on a high while depleated hosts after their last win will look to settle for overall 2-1 win over rampant visitors.

Preview

With South Africa winning the Test series and India humiliating the hosts in the 50-over format and both teams now level (1-1) in the T20 series, the high-voltage third encounter in Cape Town will undoubtedly be the tour decider.

In the first game of the shortest format, a brilliant all-round show helped visitors beat hosts South Africa by 28 runs at Johannesburg. In the second game, South Africa, who lost the One-Day International (ODI) series 1-5, kept the T20I series alive by registering a six-wicket victory at Centurion.

The second match was a show of respective batting resolves by both sides, especially of their middle-order batsmen. While Manish Pandey (79 not out off 48) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (52 not out off 28) responded for India, the hosts had to thank Heinrich Klaasen (69 off 30) and Jean-Paul Duminy (64 not out off 40) as they overhauled the visitors' total of 189/4 with six wickets and 1.2 overs to spare.

Klassen and Duminy were particularly harsh on leg-spinner Yuzvender Chahal (0/64) and left-arm medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat (2/42) in the second match. These two will be eager to bounce back with improved performances in the third match as captain Virat Kohli trusts them.

Kohli will depend on seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, if he is not rested, to provide the early breakthroughs. It is though not clear whether Kohli prefers to rest Bhuvneshwar, the way the team rested fellow pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the second match. Bhuvneshwar has played a lot in the tour which comes to end with the match on Saturday.

The place of pacer Shardul Thakur is not guaranteed as the Mumbai right-armer has not impressed much in the two matches. The match may see the return of chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

In the batting department, alongside skipper Kohli, batsmen Rohit Sharma, Dhawan, Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and Pandey will look to make the most of their capabilities this time also.

Batsman Suresh Raina, who made a comeback in the T20Is will act as a vital cog in the middle-order and will look to proving his mettle after scoring 46 runs in two games.

The home camp will be high on confidence after ending their three-match losing streak across ODIs and the first T20I. They must have been relieved the way they dealt with Chahal, who tormented them in the ODIs.

While Reeza Hendricks punished the Indian spinners in the opener, Klassen and captain Duminy did the job in the second game. Farhaan Behardien and David Miller have not lived up to the expectations yet and the match gives them another chance to make impact and impress the selectors ahead of the busy schedule.

The bowling department, featuring Andile Phehlukwayo, Junior Dala, Dane Paterson and Chris Morris along with chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi will have to come up with something special in order to get rid of the flamboyant Indian batsmen.

Squads:

India squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur.

South Africa: Jean-Paul Duminy (captain), Farhaan Behardien, Junior Dala, AB de Villiers, Reeza Hendricks, Christiaan Jonker, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Chris Morris, Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Jon-Jon Smuts.