IND vs SA: Predicted India playing 11 for the 5th T20I against South Africa
South Africa's tour of India 2025 has come to a close. A competitive series was played between the two teams in all three formats. The excitement of this series is evident from the fact that, while the visiting team won the Test series, the host team won the ODI series, and this trend continued in the T20I series. Even after four T20Is, it is still very difficult to predict the series winner. Although South Africa cannot win the series now, as the fourth T20I was washed out due to rain, they can still win the last T20I and draw the series.
On the other hand, hosts India aimed to win another T20I series under Suryakumar Yadav’s leadership. The Indian team is undefeated in T20Is under his captaincy and will want to keep that record.
The fifth and final T20I will be held at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedabad, on December 19. In this match, India will make a force change. Shubman Gill, who has been ruled out due to a toe injury, will miss the match. Sanju Samson will replace him and will open with Abhishek Sharma. Jasprit Bumrah is in the squad and likely to feature in the India playing XI, but it will be fascinating to watch if he actually plays, then which player will rest instead of him? The rest of the team is expected to remain the same.
In this series, Indian batters faced many challenges, and except for one or two, no one looked comfortable against South African bowlers. In the first game, thanks to Hardik Pandya, India managed to put a challenging cricket score of 175. In the second T20I, India was bowled out for just 162 while chasing 214. In the third T20I, despite Abhishek Sharma's explosive start, India achieved the target of 118 runs in 15.5 overs.
It will be interesting to see how Sanju Samson performs in this match. He was initially seen as a strong candidate for the opening slot, but after Shubman Gill’s inclusion, Sanju lost his place.
Apart from the second T20I, Indian bowlers performed well against South African batters. Varun Chakravarthy took 6 wickets in 3 matches of this India vs South Africa T20I series and could again pose a threat. Arshdeep Singh also took early wickets, and in the third T20I, Harshit Rana took 2 wickets. With Bumrah’s return, the Indian bowling attack will be sharper. Bumrah played the first two T20Is; he took 2 wickets in the first but had an off day in the second T20I.
Predicted India Playing XI for the 5th T20I
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav ©, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakrawarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana/ Jasprit Bumrah
