A 5 match T20 Series right after the IPL and a few months just before the World Cup is what India needed to start their preparations well. And this series will be interesting to watch for more than one reason. And one of them is that we will get to see some very new and old faces in Indian colours either for the first time or after a long time. And that in itself is a mouth-watering prospect.
India is coming into this game without their big guns like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja etc. This gives coach Rahul Dravid time to test India’s bench and see which players he might be counting on to help him and his team lift the T20 World Cup trophy later this year.
Just before the series was set to begin, India suffered a huge blow. Captain K.L Rahul was ruled out of the series with an injury and so was spinner Kuldeep Yadav. And now India will be more reliant on some new faces and new players than they would have liked. Rishabh Pant will be leading team India in this series for the very first time and IPL winning captain Hardik Pandya has been handed the Vice captain’s role on his successful return.
South Africa on the other hand does not have such injury concerns and they have come with their whole squad almost intact. They are looking like a very well oiled and compact unit and with Miller finding his mojo back, expect South Africa to pack a punch in this game. With India playing without most of their key players, South Africa will be looking to make sure that they can win another trophy against this Indian side. And that too in India’s home conditions.
With this being a 5 match series and both teams looking ahead to prepare for the T20 World Cup, this should be a cracker of a series and the first match will hold a lot of importance to give the winning team some momentum and confidence.
India vs South Africa Pitch Report
The pitch at the Arun Jaitley stadium is generally one on the slower side. This assists the spinners quite well. However, the boundaries are on the shorter side and the dew might also come into play as the heat is overbearing. Expect the captain winning the toss to bowl first as the toss might make a huge difference.
India vs South Africa Probable LineUps
India
Possible XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c, wk), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Bhuvnenshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal
South Africa
Possible XI: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi.
