IND vs SA: Pacers and middle-order make India favourites in series decider

A lot of grey areas are yet to be addressed but a young Indian team with an admirable collective temperament will start as favourites in the seriesdeciding fifth T20 International against South Africa here on SundayIn a space of eight days this Indian team has played four games It fielded an identical XI which is in sync with Rahul Dravids school of continuity seen the nadir in the first two games only to break its own record of highest margin of victories over the Proteas by 47 runs in the third game and by 82 runs in the fourthWith Dinesh Karthik doing exactly what is expected of him and Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan also hitting the straps the Indian fans would want to see Yuzvendra Chahal perform a trick or two at his IPL home ground in a match that matters the mostTherefore when the teams step out on the M Chinnaswamy Stadium turf the side that looked jaded and overcooked in the first two games will start as overwhelming favourites as the South Africans have already lost the plotIf Temba Bavuma is unable to recover they will miss a leader more than the batter And suddenly in the last two games the batting has looked iffy on tracks that have variable bounce which has made this Indian attack look way more lethalCall it strangely pleasant but it remains a fact that in this series a lot of things havent exactly gone as per plan but yet India have managed to level the series after being 02 downA young captain who perhaps would have liked a few days in his hometown in Rourkee had there not been a pressure from one of the stakeholders to have at least a few stars in the absence of safe boxoffice bets like Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma or Jasprit BumrahNeither has Pants captaincy been exceptional nor has his similar pattern of dismissals inspired confidence but India have somehow managed to pull throughIf they finally win the series the young man would be in that leadership mix alongside Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul when the next transition in Indian cricket happens after the 2023 ODI World CupIf coach Dravid wanted to check out whether there is a possibility to tinker with the existing top three the troika of Ishan Kishan Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer havent exactly fitted into the jigsaw puzzleGaikwad with his current technique would be nine out of 10 times found wanting against quality attack on better pitches with sporadic performances here and there In top flight cricket he wont get those couple of uncapped domestic bowlers whom he can bully On the contrary he could get bullied by express paceIshan Kishan has a limited range of strokes and one shouldnt go by the volume of runs scored in this series as the extra bounce and pace on Australian wickets will be a difficult propositionAlso Read Ranji Trophy You have to score runs all the time says Yashasvi JaiswalShreyas Iyer got a full series but he should be the first one to admit that he has blown it with both hands and when India next play against Ireland at Malahide his place will go to Suryakumar Yadav considered a way better T20 proponentThere is something about big ICC event years and Karthik revving up his performances He is already going to don the big gloves in Ireland and the manner in which he is proving to be an asset at the backend no one should be raising eyebrows if he becomes the designated keeperbatter by the time India play Pakistan at MCG the in the last week of OctoberAmong the bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar is once again swinging the new ball and Avesh Khan having developed a welldisguised bouncer along with an ability to bowl more fuller and hit the hard lengths is also a contender among the five pacers that India might carry Down UnderThe spinners in this series despite an improved effort have been belowpar Axar Patel has blown hot and cold but more important looked unidimensional while Chahal in his bid to be quicker through the air has proved to be profligateThe series hasnt been one of Indias best but somehow just like top teams do the Men In Blue have found their way out to win matches under pressure That augurs well as Pant and his men aim to wrap up the series at the Garden CityTeamsIndia Rishabh Pant c amp wk Ruturaj Gaikwad Ishan Kishan Deepak Hooda Shreyas Iyer Dinesh Karthik Hardik Pandya Venkatesh Iyer Yuzvendra Chahal Axar Patel Ravi Bishnoi Bhuvneshwar Kumar Harshal Patel Avesh Khan Arshdeep Singh Umran MalikSouth Africa Temba Bavuma c Quinton de Kock wk Reeza Hendricks Heinrich Klaasen Keshav Maharaj David Miller Lungi Ngidi Anrich Nortje Wayne Parnell Dwaine Pretorius Kagiso Rabada Tabraiz Shamsi Tristan Stubbs Rassie van der Dussen Marco JansenMatch starts at 7pm ISTThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever