South Africa vs India 2018: India's probable playing XI for third T20I

An away tour is a marathon, not a sprint. India's nearly two-month-long sojourn in the Rainbow Nation is finally coming to an end, and unlike the dreary guest who overstays their welcome, the visitors have managed to wrestle momentum as the tour has gone on.

The final T20I between India and South Africa will take place on Saturday and both the teams will go into the fixture knowing that they can claim the bragging rights by winning two out of the three series on the tour.

India have won six of the eight limited-overs contests and will be looking to make it seven out of nine, at Cape Town. Will India make any changes to the side for the decider or will they stick with their winning formula?

Here is how they could line up for the third T20I at Cape Town:

If you haven't watched Dragon Ball Z before, look away for this next bit. Rohit Sharma, on this tour, has attempted his best impersonation of Captain Ginyu. Despite looking at his flashy best at times, he has inexplicably transformed into a toad more often than not, hopping and jumping around the crease to fend off the thunderbolts from the South African pacers. With only one score over 50 on the tour, Rohit will need to come good in the series-decider to silence his critics for a while.

While Virat Kohli has successfully managed to scale Mt. Everest, Shikhar Dhawan is slowly making his way to the top of Kangchenjunga. All this, while many claim that he doesn't possess the right gear to make his way to the summit. He single-handedly won India the first T20I with a blistering 72, but failed in the second game, falling to the part-time spin of JP Duminy, and will look to get India off to a start to ease the pressure on his skipper to follow.

The latest reincarnation of Suresh Raina has been explosive and, just like the firecrackers during an Indian Diwali celebration, has fizzled out far too quickly before people can quite comprehend what all the fuss is about. Raina got starts in both games, scoring 15 and 31 respectively, but was unable to kick on, leaving the middle-order with far too much to do. He is, however, expected to retain his place in the side for the decider.

Virat Kohli, like the Starship Enterprise, has boldly gone where no one else has before. While Viv Richards' record might be on the menu, it might yet be a step too far for the man who has led the Enterprise with great elan. Kohli, will, however, look to end the tour on a high and lead his side to another series win.

Manish Pandey can do no right at the moment. Lambasted for his struggles to accelerate in the first T20I, he made up for that with aplomb in the second encounter, scoring 79 off 48, but this time found himself at the receiving end of a volley of abuse from MS Dhoni, who was unimpressed with his ball-watching. While Pandey will need to watch the ball in the third T20I, he will need to make sure he does it only when it is hurtling to him from the hand of Rabada and Dala.

MS Dhoni looked like a scuba diver with a broken oxygen tank in the ODI series, floundering around to survive, but he managed to break the surface and take in a deep breath in the 2nd T20I, powering his side to a competitive total. While it is obvious his big-hitting prowess is on the wane, he remains India's best keeper and will remain in the side in the tours to come.

Hardik Pandya has somehow managed to cement a place in this Indian side, despite being pretty middling with both bat and ball. He was expensive in the second T20I, going for 45 from his quota of 4 overs. While he is a handy option to have when the ball moves off the surface or through the air, he becomes a liability when there is nothing on offer for the bowlers. However, his hard-hitting abilities lower down the order have impressed the team management enough for them to stick with him for now.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, like he has been for India ever since returning to the side, was right on the money in the second T20I, going for just 19 runs from 3 overs. While he went wicketless, his knuckleballs have become a thing of beauty; much like how Picasso wielded his magic on a canvas, Bhuvneshwar's fingers possess similar wizardry, with his variations proving to be quite the handful for even the best to deal with.

Blessed (or cursed depending on how you look at it) with an action about as conventional as a ballet dancer in jeans, Jasprit Bumrah has somehow managed to make it work for him, propelling himself to the top of the T20I rankings at one point in time. He has slipped from that lofty perch, however, with a few sub-par performances and was even overlooked for the second T20I after going for plenty in the opening encounter. He is set to return though at the expense of Jaydev Unadkat. Bumrah is one of the best death bowlers going around and will play a key role in restricting South Africa to a chaseable total.

Having replaced Jasprit Bumrah in the second T20I, Shardul Thakur gave a fairly good account of himself, picking up the wicket of Reeza Hendricks and going for a shade over 7 an over, impressive figures in this era of small boundaries and large bats. Shardul is likely to keep his place ahead of Kuldeep Yadav considering the Newlands surface is not expected to take a lot of spin.

Heinrich brought some 'Klaas' 'en' a lot more power to the second T20I and he put all that to good use against Yuzvendra Chahal's rather toothless leg-spinners. Chahal finished with the most expensive figures by an Indian in T20Is, conceding 64 runs in 4 overs, but he has had the number of the South African batsmen for a majority of the tour and will be looking to draw on some inspiration from the ODI series, where he ended as India's second highest wicket-taker.