India’s Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and chose to bowl against South Africa in their attempt to even the T20I series under cloudy Chennai skies.
Laura Wolvaadt, the South African captain, was keen on batting first, so both teams got their wish as they prepared for the T20 World Cup in October in Bangladesh.
Both squads stuck with the same XIs from the previous match that was rained out, where South Africa scored 177 for 6 thanks to Tazmin Brits and Anneke Bosch. This puts South Africa ahead 1-0 going into the third T20I.
Richa Ghosh’s absence due to a concussion sustained in the first T20I led to Assam wicketkeeper Uma Chetry getting another chance in the team.
This is South Africa’s final match before the T20 World Cup. A victory here would be a fitting end to a challenging tour, having lost the ODIs and the one-off Test. India’s next stop is Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup.
India XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Uma Chetry (wk), S Sajana, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy
South Africa XI: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Eliz-Mari Marx, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba
