"South Africa must be mentally hurt" - Wasim Jaffer picks team with "upper hand" in 5th IND vs SA 2022 T20I
Wasim Jaffer has said India will have the "upper hand" in the series decider against South Africa on Sunday. He believes India's margin of victories in the last two matches would have 'mentally hurt' the visitors and they might find it difficult to pick themselves up amid injury concerns for some key players.
After losing the first two matches and looking down and out, India came from behind to record a 48-run and a 82-run win to square the rubber.
To make matters worse for the Proteas, skipper Temba Bavuma and pacer Marco Jansen both got hurt while batting on Friday, with the former even retiring out. This only added to the long list of injury issues that have marred the team in this series.
Speaking in this regard to ESPNcricinfo, Jaffer said:
"India will have the upper hand in Bangalore because both their wins have been on big margins. South Africa must be mentally hurt that they lost so easily after winning the first two matches. There are some injury concerns as well with Bavuma and perhaps Marco Jansen being injured, Aiden Markram has also gone so I feel India has the upper hand for this match."
Markram, a key middle-order batter for South Africa, tested positive for Covid-19 before the start of the series. The right-hander missed the first two matches before eventually being sidelined for the next three as well. His 'return to play program', i.e recovery phase, presumably got stretched longer than expected.
Terrific fightback from team India to level the series. Credit to Rishabh and Rahul Bhai for sticking with the same team throughout despite couple of losses at the start. Avesh repaid the faith and how! Super Sunday ahead! #INDvSA https://t.co/jHCSUsFnNZ
Apart from him, seniors like Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada also missed games in the series due to fitness issues. Although Bavuma and Co. managed well at the start, they struggled when India came in with better-organized plans.
"Don't think any change will happen" - Wasim Jaffer
On to the decider now
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Clinical win 🇮🇳💙 On to the decider now👊🏻 https://t.co/Li7jW04mvS
Jaffer was also asked whether India should give the players sitting on the bench for four matches a chance in the decider. Although the former opener suggested a preferred change - Deepak Hooda replacing the struggling Shreyas Iyer - he said it's unlikely India will go that way after winning two matches on the trot.
Jaffer asserted:
"We were expecting some changes after the first two losses but India didn't make any change so I don't think any change will happen when they have won two matches. If we have to throw a name in the hat, it could be Deepak Hooda for Shreyas Iyer because he batted at No. 3 in the IPL as well and was successful as well. But the pattern the Indian team is playing in, I think we will see more continuity."
This might also mean that pacers Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh will go untested in their first and second series for India respectively.
Nevertheless, the final T20I is scheduled to take place on Sunday at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium and you can catch live action here.