5th T20I: Rishabh Pant’s India eye perfect climax vs South Africa in series decider

India have won two games on a trot and the picture looks completely different. Rishabh Pant and co are the favourites to seal the five-match series, currently tied at 2-2, vs South Africa at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Sunday. 

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Dinesh Karthik and Avesh Khan guided India to an 82-run win in the fourth T20I in Rajkot. While the wicket-keeper batter scored 55 off 27 balls, his first half-century in the format, the pacer finished with his career-best 20-over figures – 4/18. Defending a par score of 169, all bowlers maintained miserly economy rates and managed to dismiss Temba Bavuma and co for 87 – their lowest T20I total. 

The match saw the Indian side tick many boxes they have been wanting to throughout the series. Their playing 11, same in all the four games, clicked. And this makes them the favourite in the decider. 

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For South Africa, who had won the first two matches quite comfortably, skipper Temba Bavuma might be out of action. The 32-year-old was retired hurt in the Rajkot game after being hit by Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s short ball. 

The series hasn’t been one of India’s 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 City’.

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Teams (from): India: Rishabh Pant (c & 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 Malik.

South 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 Jansen.

Match starts at 7pm IST.