India v South Africa 2nd T20 Tips: Yadav and Markram hit the spot

India v South Africa
Sunday 25 September, 14:30

Team news

India have suffered a significant blow to their World Cup hopes. Jasprit Bumrah is having scans on his back. It means he is out of the series and is a doubt for the tournament in Australia later this month.

Mohammad Siraj is his replacement in the squad but we don't expect him to play considering he's not featured in a T20 since the IPL. Hardik Pandya was rested for game one, which India won by eight wickets. That saw Rishabh Pant get a game. Yuz Chahl may come back in for Ravi Ashwin.

Possible XI: Rahul, Rohit, Kohli, Yadav, Pant, Karthik, Axar, Harshal, D CHahar, Arshdeep, Chahal

South Africa are weak in mind. They need to drop Temba Bavuma, the captain, and replace him with Reeza Hendricks who has been in good form. One strikes at 102 in the last 12 months, the other 132. Guess who SA pick?

It cannot be good for morale that an underperforming player gets a free pass. We don't expect it to change, however.

Probable XI: De Kock, Bavuma, Rossouw, Markram, Miller, Stubbs, Parnell, Maharaj, Rabada, Nortje, Shamsi

Pitch report

In the last ten T20 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Trophy at Guwahati (all in 2021), six were won by the side batting first. But only three saw scores of 150 or more in first dig. This could be another dicey track, as South Africa found to their cost when they were bundled out for 106 in game one. If the visitors bat first, we're looking again for cheap lays at 130 and 140 on the innings runs.

How to play

India are 1.564/7 and South Africa 2.767/4. The visitors should be better for the run and were rather caught cold by the fast turnaround from arrival to match time. They are a decent team and the gulf is not justfied but they must bat second.

It's a risk for us to take the 2.767/4 because of the toss bias but it's the smartest play considering India are almost unbeatable in the chase. We would expect them to get anything up to 180 in the unlikely event that SA batted that well.

Tops value

There are two solid team top-bat picks. Both Suryakumar Yadav and Aiden Markram give sizeable edges at 5/1 on their win rates in the last two years. At the moment these two would make a World XI for those who know the numbers. They're not too shabby at 9s and 14s respectively for top match bat, either. Bet the Sportsbook markets here.