IND vs SA: What Harshal Patel has to say on Rajkot’s big dimensions ahead of 4th T20I vs. SA: The fourth match of the T20 series (IND vs. SA) between India and South Africa is to be played on Friday evening at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
This ground is more significant in size than other plains. For this reason, fast bowler Harshal Patel believes that spinners will be able to bowl a little more freely on this ground.
The Indian team defeated the Proteas team by 48 runs in the last match, and they will try to level the series by registering a win in Rajkot.
Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel bowled very well, which helped team India to win the game. Chahal was elected as the man of the match because of his excellent bowling skills.
IND vs SA: “It does bring spinners a little more into the game”
Ahead of the fourth T20I, Harshal explained why significant boundaries would help spinners control the game despite the flat pitch. He said, “We also have world-class spinners in the team who can bowl well on any pitch, but it does bring them a little more into the game when we have slightly slower pitches and slightly bigger ground dimensions.”
In the third T20 match played in Visakhapatnam, Harshal Patel took four wickets for 25 runs and recorded the best bowling figures of his T20 International career. Harshal described the pitch in Delhi as better and the previous match as slower, which helped him use his variations effectively. The right-arm fast bowler said,
“Although there was not a lot of variable bounce or lateral movement from the (Visakhapatnam) pitch, it was definitely slow. So that allowed us to bowl hard lengths and slower balls into the pitch. It was difficult to clear the boundary from those lengths.”
Patel redeemed himself in the last game with a fantastic performance. However, if the pitch in Rajkot is not as slow as the one in Visakhapatnam, it will be interesting to see his backup plans.
IND vs SA Squad Update
India’s T20I squad
Rishabh Pant (captain and wicketkeeper), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
South Africa’s T20I squad
Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, 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 and Marco Jansen
