South Africa VS India 1st T20 – Preview

On Sunday 10 December, South Africa will clash with its rivals India at Kingsmead Stadium in the first of three T20 matches both sides will play this month. With the match scheduled in Durban, a city with most Indians based there, tickets went fast for the game to be sold out. It has been a tradition though that these nations always provide sold-out affairs and cracking action on the field.

Temba Bavuma rested after coming from the recently concluded Cricket World Cup in India, where the Proteas bowed out of the semi-finals. Then Aiden Markram was handed a task to lead the side. The match saw a new-look Proteas with the familiar face of Quinton De Kock also given the rest as well. De Kock has indicated his plans to retire from international cricket with next year’s T20 World Cup in the US and UAE will be his last dance in the national set-up. When it comes to ODI and Test, De Kock will no longer form part of the squad and his focus will be taking the money with 20-over format leagues across the world. Even Kagiso Rabada has not been called for this T20 series after being part of the World 50-over World Cup.

Pacer Nandre Burger has been called up to the team after having a superb season in franchise cricket. Gerald Cotzee, and Marco Jansen who are coming back from a spectacular World Cup will be expected to lead the bowling attack even though will only play the first two matches. Even world-class bowler Lungi Ngidi, who didn’t have a great World Cup will form part in the first two matches and then be released on the last one. Meanwhile, Keshav Maharaj will be a familiar face for all three matches.

Meanwhile, India comes into the series on top of thrashing Australia on home soil by 4-1. That will give them a much-needed morale boost and are coming on tour as slightly favorable to claim a win here. With the nation missing some notable names in the squad the focus will be on these young guns to produce remarkable performances like they did with Aussies. Suyarkumar Yadav has been given the task of leading the side once more side with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as his deputy for the whole series. Despite Jadeja, only Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, and Mohammed Siraj are the other players, who were part of the ODI World Cup, where India finished as the runners-up.

Predictions

India has shown that can be a dangerous side when chasing a big total batting first will be a high mistake Proteas will make against them. Plus, they are riding on a very good form after winning clinical against Australia at home. The weather conditions are not expected to play a large part with some cool days and a thunderstorm expected in the morning. Not hard enough to interrupt a match though.