When the young Indian team will face the strong South Africa in the first match of the three-match T20 International series starting here on Sunday, it will try to find answers to the difficult questions with which it will have to face. Injured captain Hardik Pandya is out till the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and main fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is on a break. Apart from this, there is no clarity about the T20 future of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma before the World Cup to be held in June, so no one will be able to say much about the success or failure of the team in South Africa.
Situation regarding T20 World Cup will be clear after IPL
The situation regarding India’s core team for the T20 World Cup will be clear only after a month of IPL because at that time the form and fitness of the players will be the criteria for selection. If Rohit and Virat are selected in the playing eleven then the team touring South Africa will suddenly be very different. The team, led by Suryakumar Yadav, defeated Australia 4-1 on home soil and even a casual Indian sports fan would agree that there was not much at stake in the series which took place within 72 hours of the World Cup. Australia had rested the core bowling attack and some of the seniors were so tired that they left for home after the third match.
Kagiso Rabada given rest
The South Africa series will be the last major T20I series for India before the series against Afghanistan in mid-January. South Africa’s main fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been rested while Enrique Norkia and Lungi Ngidi are injured but the team will be very strong on its field. India are taking 17 players for the T20 series and only three of them, Shreyas Iyer, Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Kishan, are also part of the 50-over format. But there will be many difficult issues before the team in which the opener and number three batsman will have to change the defensive tendency which was the bane of India in the last T20 World Cup.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill have performed brilliantly.
Yashasvi Jaiswal has already shown the aggressive level of his batting and Shubman Gill has now become the first choice in all formats while Ruturaj Gaikwad will also be difficult to ignore after his 100 runs in 52 balls. The problem is that if the trio of Jaiswal, Gill and Gaikwad bats, then Ishan Kishan is not a very good option after number four and India’s number one T20 batsman and captain Suryakumar is present at number four. Then Kishan will face a tough challenge from Jitesh Sharma for the wicketkeeper’s position as he seems to be improving as a ‘finisher’ at number six. Then there is the number five position where Shreyas Iyer is expected to face challenge from the short pitched balls of Marco Jensen, Gerald Coetzee and Andile Phelukwayo. If Iyer is played then there will be no place for Rinku Singh who is also proving to be a good ‘finisher’ and he himself had said on ‘BCCI.TV’ that he will bat at number five. If Kishan does not get a place in the top four then Jitesh is the option for number six. For players like Ruturaj, Jaiswal, Rinku and Jitesh, the extra bounce at Kingsmead will present a different kind of challenge.
South African batsmen can put Indian bowlers in trouble
Australia challenged the Indian bowling attack in most of the matches but the importance of length will double in South Africa. Quinton de Kock will not be in the South African team but Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, captain Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs and Matthew Britzke can give trouble to the Indian bowlers. Ravindra Jadeja is the vice-captain in this series and is expected to bat at number seven. The other spinner will definitely be ‘Googly’ specialist Ravi Bishnoi who is now the world number one T20 spinner. Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar are expected to be the three fast bowling options.
India’s team is as follows
Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar
South Africa’s team is as follows
Aiden Markram (captain), Otniel Bartman, Matthew Britzke, Nandre Berger, Gerald Coetzee (1st and 2nd T20I), Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jensen (1st and 2nd T20I), Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Andile Phelukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs and Lizaad Williams