South Africa vs Sri Lanka 3rd T20 Match Prediction

SA Team News

With Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada only featuring in the first game of the series, Aiden Markram and Sinethemba Qeshile made their T20i debuts in the second match. Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje are out injured - though Ngidi was not due to play these matches anyway - with Dale Steyn, Dwaine Pretorius, Lutho Sipamla, Chris Morris and Tabraiz Shamsi forming the bowling attack in the second game. Shamsi replaced Imran Tahir and Morris stepped in for Andile Phehlukwayo as South Africa made full use of their 18-strong squad.

SA Key Players

Reeza Hendricks recaptured his best form in the last match, scoring 65 with the bat - his third T20i half-century. He had gone into the matches with Sri Lanka in good form in the Momentum One Day Cup with Lions.

Rassie van der Dussen, meanwhile, hit 64 from 44 balls at Centurion to follow the 34 he scored in the first game. Van der Dussen averages 36.89 in T20 cricket, with a strike rate just shy of 130, having burst onto the scene at the highest level in the past year.

David Miller and JP Duminy offer big hitting and experience in the middle order, meanwhile - the former scored 41 from 23 balls in the first game and then dominated the super over, while the latter, captaining the team, scored 33* from 17 balls last time out.

With the ball, IPL-bound Chris Morris took 3-32 last time out and was in good form with bat and ball in the T20s against Pakistan too - in his final match, he took 2-27 and then hit 55*. 

Dale Steyn’s vast experience contrasts with young paceman Lutho Sipamla, meanwhile, but both have proved they can take wickets and bowl economically at this level.

SA Team Form

Two wins from two so far in this series take South Africa to seven wins in their last eight T20 internationals. The one blip was the dead rubber against Pakistan in their series win that preceded Sri Lanka’s tour.

Against Sri Lanka, it took some big hitting from David Miller and economical bowling from Imran Tahir in the Super Over to seal a South African win first up. They had earlier been cruising in pursuit of 135 to win with four overs remaining but collapsed from 118/3 to 134/8 to tie the game.

There were no such dramas last time out, however - Reeza Hendricks top-scored with 65 in a total of 180/3 and Chris Morris took 3-32 with the ball as Sri Lanka were restricted to 164/9 in reply.