South Africa went in with the same XI that recorded their first win on tour on Friday
Laura Wolvaardt and Harmanpreet Kaur shake hands after South Africa’s win on Thursday • BCCI
Toss India elected to bowl vs South Africa
India rang in changes in rainy Chennai as they elected to bowl first in a bid to keep the T20I series alive.
Richa Ghosh was ruled out due to a “head injury” – she was concussed while attempting a catch in the series opener two nights ago. This meant a debut for 21-year-old wicketkeeper Uma Chetry, who becomes the second female Assamese cricketer to represent India.
India also brought in Arundhati Reddy to replace pace spearhead Renuka Singh, while D Hemalatha’s lean run of form at No. 3 meant an opportunity for Sajeevan Sajana, who shot into the limelight as a finisher during WPL 2024 for Mumbai Indians.
In the bowling department, India opted to replace legspinner Asha Sobhana with allrounder Shreyanka Patil to join their three-pronged spin attack.
South Africa went in with the same XI that recorded their first win on tour on Friday.
Playing XIs
India: 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Uma Chetry (wk), 6 S Sajana, 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Pooja Vastrakar, 9 Radha Yadav, 10 Shreyanka Patil, 11 Arundhati Reddy
South Africa: 1 Laura Wolvaardt (capt), 2 Tazmin Brits, 3 Marizanne Kapp, 4 Anneke Bosch, 5 Chloe Tryon, 6 Nadine de Klerk, 7 Annerie Dercksen, 8 Eliz-Mari Marx, 9 Sinalo Jafta (wk), 10 Ayabonga Khaka, 11 Nonkululeko Mlaba
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
