Batting focus for India, South Africa ahead of a 'rainy' third T20I

Just before India began their practice, a couple of fans walked up with a memento for captain Harmanpreet Kaur. She was happy to receive it; the fans were happy to get a picture clicked. Happy ending.



The fans have, no doubt, been a highlight of this T20I series between India and South Africa. Even in the washed out second T20I, their patience and enthusiasm shone through. Yet some of them would have been a tad disappointed at what they would have seen in the first match.



India had botched up a chance to post a tall score to bat the Proteas out of the match. That they won was thanks to their spinners stepping up.



A glance at the practise session on Saturday (September 28) showed that the home team is working on the lacunae. It was India’s first practice session after the win on Tuesday (September 24). Rain had been consistently disrupting their schedule and the players had been confined to their hotel.



Veda Krishnamurthy was batting in the nets and clearly, the aim was to clear the ropes by a distance. Pooja Vastrakar, who had a forgettable return, was among those bowling to Veda. The pacer managed to avoid getting hit. Had she found her groove?



A flighted ball by Poonam Yadav, the leg-spinner, was hoisted over deep mid-wicket by Veda. It stressed the fact that the team was looking up to her to provide the impetus during the death overs.



The South Africans, meanwhile, will continue to face trial by spin. Though it seemed as if the had their strategies against the tweakers sorted in the warm-up match, the first T20I laid bare the truth.



Two things the tourists would not be losing sleep over are their bowling and the form of their premier batter, Mignon du Preez. The latter struck a fine half century to take them to the doorstep to victory, just to fall short.



The weather in Surat has not really been too conducive for the sport. More importantly, rain has chosen the evening time to venture out of the clouds and pour. The forecast for Sunday (September 29), the day for the third T20I between the two sides is for cloudy weather. Will it rain? Will it not? That is something even the IMD doesn’t get right.



Ask the people in Surat and snap, comes the reply! “Shubh, shubh bolo! Koi baarish nahi hogi. (Be positive. There won’t be any rain.)”



In hope of the match taking place on Sunday…



Squads



India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, Mansi Joshi, Jemimah Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Shafali Verma



South Africa: Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail, Sune Luus (c), Lizelle Lee, Ayabonga Khaka, Lara Goodall, Laura Wolvaardt, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Anne Bosch, Nadine de Klerk, Tazmin Brits, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Nonkululeko Mlaba