After this performance from Shikhar Dhawan’s side, Indian cricket team must be in much confidence and will try to keep the same XI. They now be looking to snatch the series with a win in the third ODI which will be played in Delhi.

Predicted India’s playing XI: 

Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Siraj.

Predicted South Africa’s playing XI: 

Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada.

Venue:

Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.

Timings:

India vs South Africa, 3rd ODI will begin on Tuesday, 11th October at 1:30 PM (IST).

Indian cricket team batter Shreyas Iyer was named ‘player of the match’ after this second ODI against South Africa for his spectacular century in the game. Shreyas Iyer opened up on his batting after this winning knock in the second game. Shreyas feels he always believes in himself and plays on Instinct. Shreyas Iyer scored 113* runs in 111 balls in this second ODI against South Africa. In this wonderful Innings, he hit 15 fours and no sixes. This was an absolute class innings from Shreyas as he was questioned a lot for his batting style before this series.

“I am not someone who changes according to the bowler. I am someone who changes on the instinct. It’s not something I try in the nets first, I change it in the match itself,” said Shreyas Iyer as reported by India Today.

Shreyas Iyer won the ICC Player of the Month award for his recent remarkable batting performances in the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and West Indies. Iyer pipped past UAE batter Vriitya Aravind and Nepal all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee to grab the month to monthly award.

In February, Iyer scored 80 runs in the last ODI against West Indies in Ahmedabad. Continuing with his extraordinary form, he proceeded to over 200 runs in the three-match Ind vs SL T20 International series and stayed unbeaten throughout the series

Speaking about New Zealand’s 21-year-old all-rounder Emilia Kerr, she pipped past India women cricketers Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma to win the Player of the Month award in the women’s category.

The Indian team’s batting coach Vikram Rathour is the man with all the headaches. Many pundits have hinted towards dropping either Cheteshwar or the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane to accommodate both Iyer and Kohli in the same team. Rathour, however, has different beliefs.

According to Hindustan Times, Rahour, when asked who should be in the team, backed the two veterans. He said, “I understand both of them are going through a lean phase, but they have played very very important knocks for us in the past, and we are pretty sure they will come back and play more important knocks for the team in the future as well.”

Both Rahane and Pujara are going through a very rough patch. While the stand-in captain is enduring the worst average, 39.01, since February 2014, Pujara is yet to score a century in 23 tests. His last century came in the 2018/19 historic series down under. There is no doubt that both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have contributed on innumerable occasions to the team’s win, but with young guns ready to fire, the old ones will either have to prove their significance or make way for the new one.

From struggling at 55 for 5, India made a massive comeback during the post-lunch and tea session to score 234 runs in total. None of this could have been possible without the invaluable contributions by Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, and the boy with the golden bat at the moment, Shreyas Iyer. The trio scored a cumulative total of 158 runs to salvage a hefty lead towards the end of the day. Now the question is can India knock off the New Zealand side to secure the win?

Shreyas Iyer definitely thinks so. At the end of the day’s play, he said, “to be honest, there wasn’t much happening on the wicket. We need to get to a competitive total, maybe around 275-280… we have real spin power so hopefully we can get the job done tomorrow,” reports PTI. He also recalled how he had been in a similar situation at Green Park before playing for his Ranji Team. “The idea was to play session by session… in the end we have to win the match, and that would be the most important thing for me.”

The highest total chased in India while batting in the fourth inning is 276 . West Indies’ team achieved this feat in 1987.

However, the Mumbaikar batter was not intimidated by the pacer’s approach, and with Ashwin, he started forming yet another partnership. Together the duo added 52 runs for the 6th wicket, to which Ashwin alone contributed with 32 runs. The prominent off-spinner brought in his A-game while batting and made it really hard for the New Zealand bowlers to get him out.

After Ashwin’s departure, Iyer took the baton from the veteran spinner, and alongside Wriddhiman Saha, he threaded another partnership of 64 runs to ruin the show for New Zealand, who must have been eyeing to get India all out at the earliest.

Iyer scored his half-century during his partnership by sashing some really great shots down the ground and square of the wicket. With his inning and other batter’s contribution, India now stands 216 runs in the lead at the stroke of tea on day 3.

With his amazing, Shreyas Iyer became the first Indian to score a Hundred and a Fifty on Test Debut.

On the first day of play, Iyer came in to bat when India found itself in trouble. In the post-lunch session, New Zealand made a comeback to the game after India bossing the first session. They picked two prized wickets of Shubman Gill, who was batting on 52, and then removed Cheteshwar Pujara soon enough to worry everyone. This wicket brought Shreyas Iyer to the crease, and he did not look comfortable at all during the start of his inning. He was drawn to play a wild shot to get himself off the mark, but after that, he got a proper cricketing shot away to the fences, which eased some nerves.

From there onwards, he played some confident cricket and decided to build the inning with the interim captain Ajinkya Rahane. New Zealand, however, did not allow the partnership to blossom and made sure that Rahane was sent back to the pavilion before he could mark an irreparable dent to the bowling lineup. The fourth wicket brought Ravindra Jadeja to the crease, and Iyer decided to play as the predominant run-scorer while Jadeja hung around supporting him. Together the duo negotiated the second session and decided to take on the bowlers in the third session of the day. Both the batters scored their fifties in the final session of the day and helped India score 258 without losing any more wickets.

The morning session was another tricky session where the Kiwi seamers dominated yet again. Tim Southee even managed to break the partnership by removing Jadeja at his overnight score of 50. Iyer looked more settled than Jadeja, though, and decided to deal in boundaries instead. He scored 5 fours in no time to cruise to the score of 96.

In the 92nd over, while batting at 98, Iyer pushed to one ball outside off to take it past the point fielder to bring up his maiden test century in 157 balls. His inning included 12 fours and 1 sixer as well.

💯

A debut to remember for @ShreyasIyer15 as he brings up his maiden Test century 👏👏

Live – https://t.co/9kh8Df6cv9 #INDvNZ @Paytm pic.twitter.com/GqItxthhXB

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 26, 2021

Shreyas Iyer did not look comfortable for the few balls that he faced. Some nerves made the otherwise natural stroke player look a bit tentative. Iyer got off the mark with a perilous shot over the midwicket. But once he managed to hit a boundary in the same over by Aijaz Patel, he looked a little more relaxed and calmer in his approach to the inning.

He tried to string together a partnership with Ajinkya Rahane. Together the duo added around 30 odd runs to the total before an in-form Jamieson removed the stand-in captain in the 50th over of the match.

Then walked in Ravindra Jadeja, at number 6, and both the batters made it their interim goal to negotiate the session. At the end of the second session of the play, India were 156 for 4. In the third session of the play, both the batters took their sweat time, but after a point, Shreyas Iyer felt more settled and decided to take on the bowlers.

Iyer decided to target Rachin Ravindra, another debutant, and stroked him all around the park on different occasions to keep the pressure at bay. He brought up his fifty in the 68th over. It took him 94 balls to reach the milestone, and he scored just 6 boundaries in this inning.

What this does is opens the opportunity for the youngsters to fill in the shoes of these players. One such player to focus on in this match will be Shreyas Iyer, making his debut for the team in the most extended format Thursday. The proper handed batter has had a great outing in First-Class cricket; he averages 52.18 in the domestic format while having a more effective strike rate of 81. Iyer faced the test bowling attack of New Zealand once before in 2017, when he was a part of the India A side facing the New Zealand A squad in Vijaywada. There he scored 108 runs in just 82 balls in front of the likes of bowlers such as Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson and Ish Sodhi.

🎥 A moment to cherish for @ShreyasIyer15 as he receives his #TeamIndia Test cap from Sunil Gavaskar – one of the best to have ever graced the game. 👏 👏#INDvNZ @Paytm pic.twitter.com/kPwVKNOkfu

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 25, 2021

With KL Rahul getting injured ahead of the first match and Rohit Sharma rested for the series, Iyer will be slotted in the middle order. He will be seen batting long side the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.

The news from the centre is that India has won the toss and will be batting first.