India and South Africa meet in the fourth T20I of the series at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday, December 17. India currently lead the five-match series 2-1 after victories in the first and third matches. South Africa came back strongly to win the second match. If the visitors do not win this match, India will pocket the series. The Proteas, therefore, have to put up their best performance and hope for consistency both from their batters and bowlers.
In the third match, South Africa were let down by their batters, who failed to get a grip on the conditions. Although skipper Aiden Markram (61) did his best, it was not enough for them to put up a big total on the board and challenge the Indians. The visiting side’s bowling unit did its best, but there were far too few runs (117) on the board for them to protect. SA need to work on making the most of the fielding restrictions inside the powerplay and getting to a good score in it.
India have played well so far in this series except for the second match where their batting unit failed to deliver. Their bowlers have been in good form, especially seamers Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, who showed their class under the lights in Dharamsala. This duo made the ball talk, forcing the South African batters to play from the crease. India’s batters have all got going, except captain Suryakumar Yadav, who will hope that he gets amongst the runs soon.
Predicted Teams
IND: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh.
SA: Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje.
Key Players
Harshit Rana (IND): Seamer Harshit Rana has had to endure a lot ever since making his debut for India. The pacer has been criticised for his lack of experience at the domestic level, but he has proven to be quite effective in hitting the right lines and lengths. In the third match of the series, Rana got the ball to swing and troubled the South Africans with his pace. He can be quite efficient while bowling in tough areas.
Lungi Ngidi (SA): Lungi Ngidi is one of the most exciting fast bowlers produced by South Africa in recent times. He can hit the deck hard and even swing the ball when it is new. Ngidi is a challenging bowler to play inside the power play because he does not pitch the ball up and hits the back of a length consistently. If he is given the right fields to bowl at, Ngidi can be quite a dangerous customer.
Match Prediction
India are expected to win. Overall, they have covered all their bases and appear to be the better side. The home team enjoy the right mix of experience and youth in their side. South Africa, despite having young players in their squad, have not been able to see them perform to their best potential. The visitors need to work very hard on improving their consistency.
