2 mistakes and 1 masterstroke by India in the 3rd T20I vs South Africa ft. Tilak Varma's promotion

India ensured they won't lose the four-match T20I series against South Africa as they clinched the third encounter by 11 runs in Centurion on Wednesday, November 13. Tilak Varma was the star of the show for the Men in Blue as he smashed his maiden international century.

It was a decent performance from a tactical perspective for India. They opted to ring in a change by bringing in Ramandeep Singh for his international debut at the expense of Avesh Khan, leaving the side with just two fast bowlers. Nevertheless, the bowlers did their bit.

At the same time, however, it wasn't a spotless display. There were a few areas of improvement for the visitors, who were nearly on the wrong end of Marco Jansen's stellar all-round show.

On that note, here are two mistakes and one masterstroke made by India in the third T20I against South Africa.

#3 Mistake - India didn't use a sixth bowler

A hallmark of India's T20I exploits under Suryakumar Yadav has been their frequent usage of sixth and seventh bowling options. In the third T20I, despite going in with only two fast bowlers, India didn't turn to debutant Ramandeep Singh to chip in with an over or two.

While that was understandable to a decent extent, with conditions at Centurion being extremely batting-friendly, it would've been interesting to see how Ramandeep fared. India won't get many chances to try out fast-bowling all-rounders, and even though the score was well within South Africa's reach, there isn't much at stake in a bilateral series.

#2 Masterstroke - Tilak Varma's move to No. 3 paid dividends

After Sanju Samson was dismissed for a duck in the first over, India sprang a surprise by sending Tilak Varma at No. 3 instead of captain Suryakumar Yadav. The youngster's promotion turned out to be a masterstroke as he notched up his maiden international century and took India to an above-par total.

The reasons behind the move are still not clear. Maybe India wanted to give him some game time, or perhaps they wanted two left-handers at the crease to prevent Keshav Maharaj from being unleashed in the powerplay. Suryakumar Yadav even mentioned in the post-match presentation that Tilak asked for a chance to express himself.

Irrespective of the reasoning behind the call, it turned out to be a fruitful one.

#1 Mistake - India promoted Rinku Singh ahead of Axar Patel

India v Bangladesh - 2nd T20 - Source: Getty

When Hardik Pandya was dismissed towards the end of the 13th over, India could have capitalized on the remaining spin overs by sending in Axar Patel. Instead, they exposed Rinku Singh to two overs from Aiden Markram and Maharaj, where he looked off-color.

Rinku labored to eight runs off 13 balls and found it tough to find the boundary against both spinners and pacers. South Africa were always going to target him with spin and hard lengths, and India didn't account for that. They need to understand the southpaw's ideal role in the T20I team.