The toss losing streak of India came to an end when KL Rahul flipped the coin and it landed for the Indian side. Before this Indian team has lost its last 20 tosses, which is 1 in 1,048,576 probabilities. Getting the opportunity to decide Indian team has decided to bowl first. Winning the toss in this match was important as it is the series decider. The series decider is now playing in Vizag.
In the last five matches in Vishakhapatnam, all teams that batted in the second chased down the totals to win the matches, so for the Indian team, the toss win has opened up a chance to win the match.
Tilak Varma made a comeback into the side
The Indian team had made one change in the side, Tilak Varma has made a comeback into the side after being last played in 2023. His last match was also against South Africa. The middle-order all-rounder who only played 4 ODIs before this match captained the India A side recently. Washington, who had been used as a 6th bowling option in the last two matches, gets dropped from the team; otherwise, there are no other changes for Team India.
Tony de Zorzi and Nandre Burger were ruled out of the series
Nandre Burger and Tony de Zorzi had sustained injuries in the last match, and this led them to be ruled out of the series. In place of Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman came in to the side, and Ryan Rickelton came in place of Tony de Zorzi. Ryan Rickelton came to open with De Kock, Aiden Markram, the centurion from the last match, will bat at number five in this match.
Ryan ten Doeschate Indian assistant coach, addressed his concern about the dew and confirmed that the team had practiced with the wet ball. Though it is expected that the dew will not come heavily in this match, the broadcasters of this match confirmed that the anti-dew spray had been spread on the field for the last couple of days.
