South Africa tour of India 2025 | 3rd T20I | Preview and Predictions

In their last outing, South Africa bounced back in style at Mullanpur during what was the first-ever men’s international match played at the venue, tying up the series with a thumping win. The series now moves to the scenic Dharamsala for the third game to see who takes the lead. 

For the third T20I between India and South Africa, here we present our preview and predictions.

South Africa tour of India 2025 | 3rd T20I | 19:00 IST, December 14, 2025

The Indian bowlers had a night to forget in New Chandigarh, having been all over the place and rightly punished. Jasprit Bumrah missed his yorkers, Arshdeep Singh failed to keep the ball on the pitch, and Hardik Pandya didn’t offer enough to restrict the South African batters.

The only positive with the ball was the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel, both of whom found good grip and assistance. Moving to the crucial third game, captain Suryakumar Yadav will hope his seamers step up against the opposition’s explosive batting attack.

With the bat, chasing a massive 214, the hosts had to go hard from the get-go but lost their top three, who are arguably their best T20 batters, inside the Powerplay itself. Questions continue to be asked about Shubman Gill’s role, especially given that Sanju Samson is waiting on the bench.

Yadav’s woeful run with the bat is concerning on its own, with the veteran skipper looking like a shell of his earlier self. Tilak Varma fought a lonely battle with his half-century, but it was a little too late and too much for the left-hander, while Jitesh Sharma came in with some handy runs at the death to help his cause. 

South Africa, on the other hand, would be delighted that Quinton de Kock took a U-turn on his white-ball retirement and is back in the national team setup. After getting some runs in the ODI series, the 32-year-old demonstrated some clean hitting in the second T20I to hammer the hosts in the opening ten overs.

With de Kock going at it hammer and tongs at one end, the likes of Aiden Markram, Dewald Brevis, Donovan Ferreira, and David Miller all came in with crucial cameos at the other to help the team put up 213 on the board. Captain Markram will hope his batters maintain this form for the remainder of the series.

The Proteas’ bowling was also clinical despite the dew factor, as they managed to not go wayward and chip in with wickets at regular intervals. Lungi Ngidi struck in the first over itself and, with help from Marco Jansen, sent the top three back inside the opening four overs.

Despite India trying to smash their way out of trouble, South Africa managed to keep things under control, with Ottniel Baartman cleaning up the tail and ending with a four-wicket haul. With the ball being wet, the Proteas were wise not to pitch it up to the Indian batters and hit the strip hard, which the hosts couldn’t dispatch. Markram will hope Ngidi and Co bring their good form to Dharamsala.

Like Mullanpur, there will be runs on offer once again in Dharamsala. While dew will be a factor once again, if South Africa can do what they did last time out, having to bowl in the second innings will prove once again not much of a tall order.

While the visitors are undeniably coming into this game with some crucial momentum on their side, the hosts have the firepower and talent in their squad to answer back right away. We are backing the reigning T20 world champions to win the third game and take a lead in the series.

Fantasy XI: Abhishek Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, David Miller, Hardik Pandya (vc), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy

Venue: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
Winners Prediction: India