T20Is | IND vs SA | Preview & Prediction

South Africa will be eyeing another good T20I tour against India to gain some momentum right before the World Cup. India looks in better shape than Asia Cup except for the death bowling woes and will look to register their first ever series win against the Proteas at home.

It will be interesting to see if Hendricks, who has a mountain of runs in his recent outings, is left out for Rossouw since Bavuma is coming back in the squad. Stubbs will be looking to live up to the reputation after having a fantastic auction at the SA T20 League.

Rishabh Pant should be getting some game time in this series as Hardik and Hooda are both unavailable. Arshdeep will be in for Bhuvi and is expected to continue his good run at the death.

Probable XIs

India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal/Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Rossouw/Hendricks, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristian Stubbs, Dwaine Pretorius, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi

Head to Head

Overall: India lead 11-8
In India: South Africa leads 5-3
Rohit is the leading run-scorer (362)
Bhuvi is the leading wicket taker (15)

Match Ups (all T20s)

Rohit vs Nortje: 32 runs for 2 dismissals
Kohli vs Rabada: 39 runs for 4 dismissals
Rahul vs Rabada: 28 off 25 for 2 dismissals
Surya vs Rabada: 55 off 39 for 3 dismissals
Miller vs Bumrah: 46 off 34 for no dismissals
de Kock vs Chahal: 54 off 44 for 6 dismissals
Miller vs Chahal: 74 off 42 for no dismissals
de Kock vs Axar: 89 off 59 for 2 dismissals

Key Players

Rohit Sharma
Looking dangerous lately and due a big score since he missed out in the series decider against Australia. Even, if it’s a quickfire 30-odd like most of his recent outings, it will be a decent bid.

Dwaine Pretorius
Death over specialist(where the wickets are) and often plays as a pinch hitter. Good bid for Captain in big pools.

KL Rahul
After two back to back failures, Rahul will look to play with caution and get a start. Perfect recipe for a 50+ score for a stroke player. No trouble against any protea bowler as such.

Axar Patel
Leading wicket taker for India in last 5 outings and has three 3-fers in last 4 innings. All this while conceding only run-a-ball.

Why No Kohli/Miller/Bumrah?
Kohli will be playing his 100th T20I inning and he had scores of 13 and 43 in the 100th outing of Tests & ODIs respectively. Also, he clicked last match and if it comes to choosing between him and Rohit, the one with the lesser score in the last outing is a more reliable bet.
Miller has blown hot and cold this year and its best to observe him in the first fixture. Bumrah looked out of sorts in the last match and even if he comes back firing, Proteas should look to play him out.

Recent Form (last 5 T20I innings)

-Pretorius hasn't gone wicket-less in last 5 outings
-Stubbs is striking at 216
-Hendricks has crossed 30 in all his 5 innings.

Fantasy XI

For small pools

For big pools