India aims to equalize as the caravan arrives in Cuttack

There are times when even the most valiant efforts from your very best fall short on a day that is not supposed to be yours. Despite the Indian batters toppling a couple of world records in the series opener against South Africa, the bowling unit was no match against the sheer might of the Dussen-Miller duo. However, in a series of five contests, one game doesn’t define the fate of the tournament and there is always room to come back stronger.

As the caravan arrives at Barabati on Sunday, India will be hoping to turn the tide around. On a day where the scoreboards never remained immobile for a second, the Indian bowlers somehow missed out on their lines and lengths, and the dropped catch of van der Dussen proved to be extremely costly. 

There may not be much difference in the nature of the surface at Cuttack compared to Delhi. The team chasing could have an added advantage, as it will be easier for them to calculate their innings and at the same time, there might be dew kicking in, that makes life easier for the batters on a surface that would barely provide something for the bowlers.

Team News:

The batters played carefree cricket, and the result was a mammoth score on the board. Despite the bowlers taking a beating, it might be a little too soon to be chopping and changing the combination. Add to that there are 3 more games to go after this to try new combinations, and one can expect the Indian lineup to be unchanged.

The South African squad will be coming into the second contest with complete strength as there are no news of injuries except for Aiden Markram who is out with COVID.

Match details:

India vs South Africa (2nd T20I)

Barabati Stadium, Cuttack

12th June 2022

7:00 PM

Head-to-head:

Total matches: 16

India: 9

South Africa: 7

Squads:

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

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, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen and Marco Jansen.