ABOUT THE MATCH
With India doing reasonably well in the second match of South Africa’s tour of India, the focus now shifts to the third match of the series. Within the third match, the focus will be on the surface of JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi, the surface that is known to produce high-scoring contests.
Despite the defeat, South African skipper was pretty vocal about the positives his side derived from the first and second matches. While South Africa wouldn’t be too worried about the result of the second match, they’d undoubtedly want to do a lot better when the two teams meet to play the third match of the series beginning on Friday, 18th October.
TOSS PREDICTION
The team that wins the toss in this match will most likely opt to bat first. This is because the pitch is expected to be good for batting for the first couple of days and will become more and more bowler-friendly as the match wears on.
PITCH AND CONDITIONS
Thundershowers have been forecast for the third day’s play which could result in a few interruptions. The rest of the days, however, are expected to be nice and bright which means there would still be plenty of time remaining in this match for a result.
The JSCA International Stadium Complex has hosted only one international test match – India vs Australia in 2017. The Aussies and the home team posted 451 and 603/9 in their first innings respectively. Australia was reduced to 204/6 in their second innings which shows that the pitch tends to deteriorate post day three.
Top Order Analysis:
Middle Order Analysis:
Top Order and Middle Order Analysis:
Top bowlers Analysis:
MATCH PREVIEW
INDIA
- India steamrolled South Africa in the second test at Pune to win by an innings with 137 runs. The hosts have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and will be eyeing a whitewash when they face the visitors in the third and final game of the tour
- Batting first in the last match, Indian batsmen posted a grand total in the first innings, riding on daddy hundreds from Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli.
- India’s deep batting line-up and versatile stroke makers helped them to post a tall total for the Proteas to chase down.
- In the second innings, Umesh Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja utilized the surface to perfection as they returned with great figures each after having a laborious outing in the first innings.
- India has a perfectly rounded bowling attack, which did pretty well in the second match, and the onus will be on them to get India to yet another victory to clean sweep the series
| Top 3 batsman India | Top 3 Middle Order India | Top 3 Bowler India |
| Mayank Agarwal | Virat Kohli | Ravichandran Ashwin |
| Rohit Sharma | Ajinkya Rahane | Ishant Sharma |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | Wriddhiman Saha | Mohammed Shami |
SOUTH AFRICA
- With just one more game to go, South Africa now has nothing to play for but pride and they will be hoping to salvage some of that in this third and final match of their tour of India.
- On paper, South Africa has a terrific batting unit, whose prowess was seen in the first test. Dean Elgar’s grit and determination allowed the rest of the batsmen to settle down and then play their shots.
- Faf du Plessis was himself brilliant in both the innings, but superb deliveries in both the innings cut him short of what could have been a good score.
- South Africa’s bowling has done well for them historically, but the likes of Rabada and Philander failed to make any impression whatsoever in the opening match
- The Proteas have struggled in this series, particularly with the ball, and they will need their strike bowlers to pick up wickets early in the Indian innings in order to create some pressure on the home team.
| Top 3 batsman South Africa | Top 3 Middle Order South Africa | Top 3 Bowler South Africa |
| Dean Elgar | Temba Bavuma | Senuran Muthusamy |
| Aiden Markram | Faf du Plessis | Kagiso Rabada |
| Theunis de Bruyn | Quinton de Kock | Anrich Nortje |
PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:
Toss could once again play a massive role once again. Picking up twenty wickets will be key in winning the third match of the series, which we think will be difficult for the Proteas. India has all the resources available in both the departments of the game and goes in as firm favorites to emerge on top in the upcoming encounter.
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