Predicted India Playing XI vs SA: Sanju Samson for Shivam Dube in T20 World Cup Final?

India Cricket Team are on a winning run. Thus, with the IND vs SA T20 World Cup Final on June 29, nothing should be changed, right? India head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma would be thinking along those lines: do not tinker with the winning combination. However, not everything is perfect. There is a big question mark on Virat Kohli’s batting position and Shivam Dube’s place in India Playing XI vs South Africa.

That’s where Rohit Sharma & Rahul Dravid will face the challenge of mindsets. In an ideal scenario, a struggling Kohli should be given his favourite spot at No 3. An extra batter in Shivam Dube should also make way for someone like Sanju Samson. However, either of those is unlikely to happen in the IND vs SA T20 World Cup final in Barbados.

Should Virat Kohli return to No 3?

In a matter of a month, Virat Kohli has gone from IPL hero to zero of T20 World Cup. After scoring 741 runs in 15 matches at a strike rate of 154.69, opening the innings for RCB, Virat Kohli has had a poor run in this edition of T20 WC. He has scored just 75 runs at an average of 10.71 in this WC. That raises the question, should he drop down to No 3 in the IND vs SA final?

The short answer would be yes. However, that’s where Rahul-Rohit comes in. With everything going as per plan, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid would not want to change anything. Their defensive mindset would not allow India to go for a Plan B.

Virat Kohli: IPL 2024 vs T20 WC 2024

Tournament	Mat	Runs	Avg	SR	50/100	HS
IPL 2024	15	741	61.75	154.69	5/1	113*
T20 WC 2024	7	75	10.71	100	0	37

But should they think otherwise, Rishabh Pant can open the innings with Rohit Sharma with Virat Kohli playing the anchor role at No 3. Suryakumar Yadav comes in at No 5.

Shivam Dube question

Another big question mark is Shivam Dube. After he hit a slump in the latter part of IPL 2024, he is yet to recover. In the IND vs ENG semifinal, Dube was out for a golden duck. In fact, he hasn’t had the same impact throughout the tournament. If Dube was a monster against spin in IPL, he has struggled in that as well in the T20 World Cup.

And the fact that he has only bowled an over in this tournament, the Rohit-Dravid pair is certainly not considering him as a serious bowling option. Hence, India can bring in an extra batter in Sanju Samson at No 5.

Shivam Dube	Mat	Runs	Avg	SR	50/100	HS
IPL 2024	14	396	36	162.29	3/0	66
T20 WC 2024	7	106	21.2	106	0	34

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by InsideSport Cricket (@insidesport__cricket)

Any other alternative?

Another alternative could be bringing back Yashasvi Jaiswal in India Playing XI to open with Rohit Sharma. That way, India can have Rishabh Pant at No 5 to do what Shivam Dube failed.

With Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja shouldering responsibilities, India would not need to worry about run-scoring in the T20 World Cup final.

In the bowling department, nothing needs to change. India will go with three spinners and two frontline seamers with Hardik Pandya playing the backup seamer role well.

Predicted India Playing XI

1. Rohit Sharma (C)
2. Yashasvi Jaiswal
3. Virat Kohli
4. Suryakumar Yadav
5. Rishabh Pant (WK)
6. Hardik Pandya
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. Axar Patel
9. Kuldeep Yadav
10. Jasprit Bumrah
11. Arshdeep Singh

India Squad for Zimbabwe

Shubman Gill (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Harshit Rana