IND vs SA: India’s eyes on winning the 13th T20I in a row, responsibility of winning the match is on Rishabh Pant :-
IND vs SA: The first match of the T20 series between India and South Africa will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday. Team India will be eyeing to win this match and win the 13th T20 match in a row.
Before the start of the series, two important players of India have been out of the team due to injuries. Captain Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav will no longer be able to play this series. In such a situation, Rishabh Pant has been made the captain of the team, while Hardik Pandya is the vice-captain.
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IND vs SA: Very poor performance of India against South Africa in T20 :-
India’s performance against South Africa in T20 has been very poor. There have been two series between the two teams and a total of four matches have been played. Out of these three matches have been won by South Africa and one by India. Rishabh Pant would like to forget the old performance and start this series with a win.
IND vs SA: Ishaan Kishan and Rituraj can open :-
Injuries to KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav do not bode well for the preparations for this series and the T20 World Cup. Till now the only difficulty was going on who will open with Rahul in tomorrow’s match. The match was between Ishaan Kishan and Rutraj Gaikwad.
In the absence of Rahul, both of them have opportunities to open. Not only this, due to the injury of Rahul, many roles already fixed for tomorrow’s match are going to change.
Hardik Pandya can bat above :-
IND vs SA: There is also a possibility that Hardik Pandya may sent up the order instead of the finisher. However, coach Rahul Dravid has said that roles can change in playing for the franchise and playing for the country.
India’s eyes will be on the world record with 13th consecutive win :-
India has so far won 12 consecutive victories in T20 cricket. Against South Africa, if they beat South Africa tomorrow at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, it will be their 13th consecutive win which will be a world record but Rahul’s injury has messed up the equations.
South Africans have brought a strong team under the leadership of Temba Bavuma. What also goes in his favor is that he has not lost a series in India in the white-ball format since 2010.
India’s record in T20I against South Africa is very bad :-
South Africa has played four T20Is against Team India in India, in which it has won three. India could not win against South Africa even after scoring 199 in Dharamsala in 2019, while in the same series in Cuttack, South African bowlers bundled out the Indian team for 92 runs.
In such a situation, it is necessary for Pant to put full emphasis to win over South Africa. The selection committee has already rested Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah for this series.
IND vs SA: Pant’s captaincy test will be :-
Rishabh Pant will take over the captaincy of the team for the first time. After Virat Kohli, he was advocated to be made the captain of the team, but preference was given to Rahul. Now with Rahul’s injury, the command has come to him.
Pant has captaincy experience in the IPL. He captained the Delhi Capitals for two seasons. In such a situation, now this series will also test his captaincy and performance.
Third pacer match between Avesh, Arshdeep :-
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel can play the role of the first two fast bowlers in tomorrow’s match. There is a contest between Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh for the third pacer. It is now a contest between Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel with Yuzvendra Chahal in the role of second spinner after Kuldeep Yadav’s injury.
South Africa to play T20 for the first time after the World Cup in UAE :-
The South African team has not played together in T20s since the World Cup held in the UAE last year. Since then the team is now going to play against India. Captain Temba Bavuma makes it clear that he will also be looking to prepare the team for this series in the World Cup in Australia this year.
However, Bavuma has fast bowlers like Rabada, Nortje, Jenson and spinners like Tabrez Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj in the bowling department. At the same time, David Miller, who made a splash in the IPL, Edin Markram strengthens his batting. There are nine cricketers in the South African team who have come to play in the IPL. He will also get the benefit of playing in the IPL.
India’s Probable Team :-
Rituraj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (captain, wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Probable squad for South Africa :-
Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Reza Hendrix, Russi van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Dwayne Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabrez Shamsi.