Misfiring bowling unit under scanner as India seek series-levelling win over Proteas

The Indian bowlers will come under sharp scrutiny in the teams pursuit to merge the immediate task of serieslevelling and the distant target of finding an ideal combination for next years World Cup during the SA vs IND 3rd T20I on ThursdayThe second T20I against the Proteas was a microcosm of the struggles this nextline Indian bowlers have gone through more often than not over the last three weeksThe leftarm pacer Arshdeep Singh and his rightarm colleague Mukesh Kumar were carted around by South African opener Reeza Hendricks leaking 1550 and 1133 runs per over and they needed to regroup in a days time Of course rain and dew made their task a bit tough at Port Elizabeth but the pair lacked the imagination or control while bowling in a rather unfavourable environmentThe nonavailability of pacer Deepak Chahar for personal reasons only have added to the bowling woes Arshdeep and Mukesh are the bowlers the management trusts to produce forceful efforts in the absence of seniors like Jasprit Bumrah But this reserve bench hasnt been able to vindicate that faith so far many times finding themselves in deep watersIn fact the 41 scoreline in the recent home T20I series victory over Australia has cleverly papered over some flaws in this bowling unitArshdeep Singh had bowled a brilliant last over in the fifth T20I at Bengaluru against Aussies but that apart the pacer struggled to find his range in the series where he conceded 1068 runs per over across four matches for as many wicketsMukesh seemed to have added a couple of yards of pace but the seamer was also largely unable to stop the flow of runs and against the Australians he took four wickets from four matches but went for 912 runs per overAlso ReadLadies SpecialWith just four T20Is remaining ahead of the T20 World Cup it is also imperative for them to keep themselves in the mix before the selectors turn their eyes elsewhereRavindra Jadeja who played a T20I after a hiatus of one year and four months too was unimpressive at St Georges Park and the Indian vicecaptain will be looking for a better outing hereBut then there is always another side to the coin Rinku Singh continued to impress while making his first fifty in this format and he would be eager to finish on the winning side this timeSuryakumar scored another fifty and it was also a statement that the Indian captaincy sits lightly on him He would like to guide his side to a seriesequalling triumph with his bat and leadership skillsOn that note India will also expect a quick start from their openers Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal unless Ruturaj Gaikwad recovers from his illness to return to pole position something that has been central to Indias white ball template under head coach Rahul DravidBoth Gill and Jaiswal could not negate the extra bounce in the pitch in the last match while getting dismissed for a naught each However Johannesburg is a venue where India have done well traditionally across all three formats and in T20Is they hold a 31 record in their favourAlso ReadYoung guns harbour big hopesSouth Africa too will have their own concern in the bowling department as pacers Gerald Coetzee Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi injured as of now will miss tomorrows match as they head to play in FirstClass matches to prepare for the redball leg of the tourBut banking on past records and oppositions weak points alone will not work against an outfit like South Africa as India especially bowlers need to find a way to fire in unisonSA vs IND 3rd T20I TeamsIndia Suryakumar Yadav Captain Yashasvi Jaiswal Shubman Gill Ruturaj Gaikwad Tilak Varma Rinku Singh Shreyas Iyer Ishan Kishan wk Jitesh Sharma wk Ravindra Jadeja VC Washington Sundar Ravi Bishnoi Kuldeep Yadav Arshdeep Singh Mohammed Siraj Mukesh Kumar Deepak ChaharSouth Africa Aiden Markram captain Ottniel Baartman Matthew Breetzke Nandre Burger Donovan Ferreira Reeza Hendricks Heinrich Klaasen Keshav Maharaj David Miller Andile Phehlukwayo Tabraiz Shamsi Tristan Stubbs Lizaad Williams