South Africa is ecstatic over the return of their talismanic batsman AB De Villiers for the third and final T20 against Sri Lanka at Cape Town on Wednesday. The three-match series is evenly poised at 1-1.
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South Africa outplayed Sri Lanka in the Test series, and also won the first T20 match, but Sri Lanka came back with a bang to defeat the home team in a thrilling second T20. Now, Sri Lanka will hope to continue the winning form.
Normally, one associates T20 matches with run feasts. But, so far the series has been anything but that. The crowd at Cape Town will be hoping for a high-scoring match, especially with De Villiers in action.
The pitch in Newlands is expected to offer bounce and the ball might come onto the bat much better allowing batsmen more scoring opportunities. The presence of De Villiers will strengthen South Africa's middle order. It remains to be seen who will make way for the superstar batsman. Bowlers like Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso and Imrah Tahir have to come up with the goods to seal the series.
Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal helped Sri Lanka win their last match. In a serious setback to the visiting team, Mathews picked up an injury and will miss the match. Chandimal will lead the team.
In his absence, all the players need to ante up. Openers Niroshan Dickwella and Dhananjay de Silva should provide a flying start for the middle order to capitalise. Senior bowler Nuwan Kulasakera will play an important role as well.
In the third T20, all eyes will be on South Africa's AB De Villiers, who had been out of international action with an elbow injury for around six months. Can he inspire South Africa to a series win in his comeback match?
Where to watch
South Africa vs Sri Lanka 2rd T20 is set to start at 18:00 local time (4:00pm GMT, 9:30pm IST)
India and Sri Lanka: TV: Ten HD/Ten 3. Live Streaming: Ten Network
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 2. Live Streaming: SuperSport
UK: TV: Sky Sports2. Live Streaming: Sky Network
USA: Willow TV.
