Team India will be forced to make a few major changes as they gun to win their 14th successive T20I series win as they face South Africa in the fifth and final game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. Indians are leading the series 2-1 with the fourth game in Lucknow abandoned due to fog earlier this week. Suryakumar Yadav’s side will be missing their deputy Shubman Gill from the fifth T20I due to a toe injury. The game is taking place at Gill’s ‘homeground’ as he is captain of Gujarat Titans in the IPL. Sanju Samson is finally set to make his first appearance in the T20I series and at his familiar opening position to partner world No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma as he replaces Gill. It will be a massive game for Samson to make a final impression and push his case for a permanent spot in the playing 11 ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 team announcement in Mumbai on Saturday. India’s lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah is also available to play at his home ground. Bumrah had flown back home ahead of the 3rd T20I match in Dharamshala due to personal reasons. If Bumrah comes into the playing 11 he will replace either Kuldeep Yadav or Harshit Rana. Apart from Bumrah Washington Sundar may also come into the reckoning for selection considering the slow surface at Narendra Modi Stadium. For South Africa the form of Reeza Hendricks and pacer Anrich Nortje will be a cause of concern. Hendricks has only managed 0 and 8 so far in the series. Nortje has returned to international cricket in this series but has proved to be expensive. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj or all-rounder George Linde might return to the side to place Nortje.   NO.1 ICC Men’s T20I batter for a reason! #INDvSA 5th T20I FRI 19th DEC 5:30PM onwards pic.twitter.com/TqmlzSYNpK — Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 19 2025 India vs South Africa 2025 5th T20I match Predicted 11 India: Abhishek Sharma Sanju Samson Suryakumar Yadav (c) Tilak Varma Jitesh Sharma (wk) Hardik Pandya Shivam Dube Harshit Rana/ Washington Sundar Arshdeep Singh Jasprit Bumrah Varun Chakravarthy South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk) Reeza Hendricks Aiden Markram (c) Dewald Brevis David Miller Donovan Ferreira Marco Jansen Corbin Bosch George Linde/Keshav Maharaj/Anrich Nortje Lungi Ngidi Ottneil Baartman