India Playing XI: Men In Blue To Bat First At Perth, Deepak Hooda Comes In For Axar Patel

Perth is a bowler's paradise and keeping this in mind, the Indian team management replaced left-handed spinner Axar Patel with left-handed Deepak Hooda to increase depth in batting.

Rohit Sharma decided to bat first at the iconic Perth Stadium after winning the toss.

Source : @ICC / Twitter

India vs South Africa playing XI: Team India captain Rohit Sharma decided to bat first at the iconic Perth Stadium after winning the toss. The Men in Blue, after two consecutive wins, are now taking on a confident South Africa in their Group 2, T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 match at Perth on Sunday. India is at the top of Group 2 with four points and two wins in two matches. Perth is a bowler's paradise and keeping this in mind, the Indian team management replaced left-handed spinner Axar Patel with left-handed Deepak Hooda to increase depth in batting.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said at the toss, "It is a good surface and we know what to expect here. It was a good prep but now it is game-time. We want to come out here and do what we have been doing. Sometimes you can get carried away or your energy is low but you have to stay calm. Axar misses out and Deepak Hooda comes in."

South African skipper Temba Bavuma said at the toss, "Big game for us, have had a good start to the tournament, it is a big opportunity to test our skills against a strong Indian team. We would have probably batted as well, could be slightly tough to bat under lights, but we now need to bowl well and restrict them to a low score. The conditions are similar to what we have at home and it is a surface that our pacers can exploit. One change - Shamsi misses out, Ngidi comes in."

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.

South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje.

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