After a comfortable win in Thiruvananthapuram, India take on South Africa at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday. The Men in Blue have a great opportunity to win their first home bilateral series against South Africa; the Proteas have played three bilateral series in India, winning one and drawing two.
India have played just one T20I in Guwahati before. The Barsapara Cricket Stadium wicket offers a thin grass carpet, making the Powerplays crucial. Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh offer excellent seam position and ball movement that can blow up the South African top order, as it did in the last game.
Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma have struggled in India in nine innings, having scored just 229 runs between them. The exclusion of in-form Reeza Hendricks can prove costly. Hendricks could replace Rossouw, who has been slightly out of form.
India’s bowling concerns continue to grow as they pray for Jasprit Bumrah’s speedy recovery. Mohammed Siraj has replaced Bumrah in the Indian squad for the bilateral series against South Africa.
The fast-bowling unit looks slightly inexperienced. However, it has all the capabilities of delivering solid blows, especially with the new ball. India are expected to be unchanged for the second T20I on Sunday.
Match: India vs South Africa
Venue: Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
Date: 2 October 2022
Time: 07:00 PM IST
Where to watch: Star Sports Network | Disney+ Hotstar
The wicket will assist the seam bowlers. It will be challenging to score early in the innings, and batters will have to acclimatise before going for the big shots. The Guwahati wicket is expected to have thin green grass, which will make the toss extremely crucial. The side winning the toss will most likely opt to bowl first. A lot depends on how the top order starts. 160 looks like an on-par score.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi
Total played: 21
India won: 9
South Africa won: 11
No Result: 1
Home wins for India: 4
Away wins for South Africa: 5
India: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul
South Africa: Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Aiden Markram
India: Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel
South Africa: Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Wayne Parnell, Aiden Markaram, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Arshdeep Singh
The wicket is expected to ease out as the match progresses. Top-order batters of the chasing side will change the course of the game. I am backing the chasing side to win on Sunday.
A confident and swaggering Colombia face DR Congo knowing that victory will be enough to…
Switzerland will face co-host Canada in their last group stage encounter of Group B on…
World Cup contenders Portugal will clash with newcomers Uzbekistan in their second group stage game…
World Cup contenders England will look to ensure qualification with a win against African opponents…
A supremely confident France side will fancy their chances of getting the three points that…
World Cup debutants Jordan will face African opponents Algeria in their second group stage game…