India vs South Africa, 1st T20I – Match Prediction

After the conclusion of the Tata Indian Premier League, India will begin their T20 World Cup preparation in the home five-match T20I series against South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday. Both teams will look to be at their best and the players will aim to impress in order to get selected for the T20I showpiece.

Meanwhile, India has suffered a huge blow as KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav have been ruled out for the series due to their respective injuries. Rishabh Pant has been named as the captain whereas Hardik Pandya will be his deputy.

On the other hand, South Africa will be led by Temba Bavuma and he will look to get the best out of his players. The Proteas had defeated India by 2-1 in the Test series in their own conditions and had bested the visitors by 3-0 in the ODI series. Thus, India will look to take their revenge against them.

Meanwhile, young players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, and Arshdeep Singh have impressed in the last couple of seasons of the IPL and they got selected because of the same. Ergo, these youngsters will look to grab their chances while playing for the national team.

South Africa will want players like Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, and David Miller to deliver for them. The trio was in fine form in the recently concluded Tata IPL 2022 for their respective franchises and they will look to carry the same form against India.

Match Prediction: India will begin the contest as favorites against South Africa as they will be playing in their own conditions.

India’s T20I squad: Rishabh Pant (Captain)(wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.

South Africa T20I squad: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen.