Final dress rehearsal for the T20 World cup begins as India take on South Africa

With the Australian series done and dusted, Team India has now got their eyes on the travelling Proteas as they are all set to duke it out in the curtain-raiser at the Greenfield Stadium of a three-match T20I series that will be followed by another three ODIs.

With so much at stake and the T20 World Cup on the horizon, the Indians will be hoping to produce a decent result in the upcoming series that can act as a major uplift in their confidence. Despite the emphatic victory against Australia, the Indians will need to iron out a few chinks before they can announce it to the world that they are battle ready for the showpiece event in October.

However, looking at the numbers, India will be confident going into this bilateral series, given their triumphs against Ireland, England, West Indies and now Australia in their last four T20I outings. Despite a few questions hither and yon, Team India has managed to get the required results going their way. Asia Cup was rare blip on the radar, however, the recent performances against Australia should be a beacon of salvation in the choppy waters that has reared its ugly head at times.

South Africa has also been a dominant force in the fabric of international cricket of late that stayed witness to England being bossed emphatically in the shortest format of the game while Ireland being completely blown away. Their batting unit has shown immense depth and as they arrive in India, they would love to pick up from where they left the last time that saw them securing an early 2-0 lead before the hosts staged a turnaround.

Stats:

Rohit Sharma is the leading run-scorer between India and South Africa in the shortest format of the game with 362 runs next to his name.

Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina are the only two centurions in T20Is in the Indo-South African rivalry.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the leading wicket-taker in the Indo-South African feud with 14 wickets followed by Ravichandran Ashwin’s 10 and Harshal Patel’s 7.

Harshal Patel joined the elite club of grabbing a four-fer in this prolonged contest in the shortest format of the game that features only three Indians and Bhuvi just surpasses the list with a fifer.

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 20

India: 11

South Africa: 8

Match Details:

India vs South Africa

Greenfield Stadium

28th September

7:00 PM

Squads:

India*: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (C), Quinton De Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Bjorn Fortuin, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo