IND vs SA: A fantastic show needed from Rishabh Pant for India to level series

Under pressure India skipper Rishabh Pant will be hoping to tide over his struggles with the bat and help the hosts improve their middle overs play when they take on South Africa in the fourth T20I here todaySave Pantrsquos problems India were able to plug the gaps in Vizag to open their account in the series with a comprehensive win They will need another near perfect game to take the fivematch series into the deciderTendency to bounce backSuch has been the brilliance of Pant that every time he has been written off across formats he has found a way to bounce back The stage is set for him in another mustwin game for IndiaThe southpaw has been caught in the deep multiple times in the series trying to reach for the ball when it is not there in his hitting zone Pant prefers to hit in the cow corner region but the South African bowlers have not allowed him to do that by bowling a wide lineThe hosts had got off to an electric start in the last game with Ruturaj Gaikwad finding some muchneeded runs and complementing Ishan Kishan who has made a good case for being Indiarsquos reserve opener in the long run including in the T20 World Cup in Australia later this yearThe two will be looking to make the most of the remaining two games followed by a couple in Ireland before the regular openers walk back into the playing XIAlso ReadThrowback India opener Rohit Sharma blazes 140 off 113 against Pakistan at 2019 World CupIyer needs runs tooShreyas Iyer who has been tested with the short ball regularly in the series has not yet made a significant contribution at No3 and will be itching to change that todayThe home side struggled in the middle overs in Vizag after a perfect start before Hardik Pandya came to the teamrsquos rescue and took the score close to 180Pantrsquos men will be aiming to rectify that here and ensure the momentum is not lost through the inningsIndia rely on their spinners in the middle overs and the biggest positive out of the last game was the performance of Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar PatelWhile Axar kept it tidy Chahal bore the fruits of bowling slower through the air The turn and dip that deserted him in the earlier games was back and he looked at his threatening bestIn the pace department the seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been remarkably consistent Avesh Khan has not gone for a lot of runs but is yet to take a wicket in the series while Harshal Patel who relies on his variations to be effective found his rhythm in Vizag and ended up with a fourwicket haulThe South Africans on the other hand would back themselves to win the next game and seal the series They currently lead 21The visitors will be hoping their star batter Quinton de Kock recovers fully from a wrist injury and rejoins skipper Temba Bavuma atthe topAfter outplaying India in the first two games the South Africans were at the receiving end in the third match eventually losing by a massive 48run margin40No of runs scored by Rishabh Pant in the T20I series against SA 1333This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever