South Africa series, India’s last chance saloon

Just three days after Rohit Sharma’s Indian cricket team wrapped up a 2-1 T20I series win over world champions Australia, the hosts take on South Africa in another best-of-three series starting today in Thiruvananthapuram. These three T20Is are the last India will play before their first match of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, on October 23 against Pakistan in Melbourne, and unfortunately, we are no closer to imagining what the team’s 11 will be at the MCG than we were at the start of the Asia Cup earlier this month.

For a team that over the past ten months has rotated and rested players and chopped and changed their T20I lineup, Team India head into this series versus South Africa – who, for the record, have sent their World Cup squad here – without several key players. The BCCI, when announcing India’s T20 World Cup squad and the ones for the home series with Australia and South Africa, added a line stating that Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya would, at some point across these six T20Is, report to the National Cricket Academy for “conditioning-related work”.

Now, Arshdeep was missing during the Australia series, but has been named to face South Africa. Pandya and Bhuvneshwar will, we can assume, report to the NCA this week which leaves the team to assemble an 11 missing their best allrounder and highest wicket-taker this year. Arshdeep, statistically India’s best bowler in the backend of the innings (overs 16-20), should slot right back into the line-up, but the challenge for India is to pick an attack capable of restricting South Africa to 180 or less and defending handy totals. But with Deepak Hooda, the second best allrounder after Pandya, out with a back injury, the management needs to decide whether to bring in Rishabh Pant or play five batsmen. Just five bowlers is a big risk for this Indian team, but if they don’t choose Pant it means that Dinesh Karthik would bat at No 5, a role he has not been picked for, and Axar Patel at No 6 followed by Harshal Patel and the other bowlers. This is problematic.

While it can be argued that these three T20Is won’t have much impact on India’s World Cup plans, they are at the end of the day the last opportunity to fine-tune things and get Harshal and Jasprit Bumrah, who both bled runs on comeback against Australia, as well as the team’s lead spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, back into some semblance of form.

TEAM NEWS

India

No Pandya, no Hooda. Does this mean that Pant walks back in at No 5? Or does the team hand a debut to Shahbaz Ahmed, the Bengal and Royal Challengers Bangalore allrounder, in the hope that he holds his own in the middle order and bowls some left-arm spin?

If the team risks it with five bowlers, then they are a batsman short and have to bat Karthik, who has faced just nine deliveries in the last two series, at No 5 and Axar at 6, having not made a decent score in some time. Deepak Chahar can also be banked on as an allrounder.

India probable XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel/Deepak Chahar, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

South Africa

With Temba Bavuma back from injury, it could be that South Africa’s form batsman Reeze Hendricks, with four fifties in his prior five T20Is, moves a spot down to No 3. But then where does Rilee Roussow, who has earned his name as a T20 franchise specialist, bat in this line-up? For Roussow to play, which he should, it would mean leaving out the big-hitting young talent Tristan Stubbs. A tough call awaits.

South Africa probable XI: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Temba Bavuma (capt), 3 Reeza Hendricks, 4 Rilee Roussow, 5 Aiden Markam, 6 David Miller, 7 Dwaine Pretorious, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi

PITCH & CONDITIONS

Not much to read into when it comes to Thiruvananthapura’s Greenfield International Stadium, which has hosted all of two T20Is of which one was an eight-overs-per-side shootout. With rain predicted, this one could be similar to the recent Nagpur match which was also reduced to 16 overs in total.

PREDICTION

South Africa were held to a 2-2 draw earlier this year, but this is a stronger side, with the exception of the injured Rassie van der Dussen. If the visitors can play to potential and hurt an Indian team missing Pandya and struggling at the death, it could be their series. But India, after all, have not lost a single bilateral series since Rohit was named captain after last year’s T20 World Cup. This could be 2-1 to either team.