Ravi Shastri has revealed his picked his Team India’s XI for the upcoming first T20I against South Africa. The five-match series between India and the Proteas will get underway this week.
The series-opener will take place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on June 9. India’s squad for the series has already been announced. As expected, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested while several new faces have been added into the team following their impressive performances in the recently-concluded IPL 2022.
With several big names rested for the series, a new look Team India will be up against South Africa. And Shastri has predicted the team for the first game. The former India head coach has made a couple of surprising decisions.
Ravi Shastri reveals his picks for first T20I:
Shastri has excluded in-form Dinesh Karthik from his eleven for the first T20I. Karthik has not played for India since 2019 and earned the recall after his stunning performance in IPL 2022. Karthik finished the competition as one of the best finishers.
In 16 games, he smashed 330 runs at an average of 55 and a strike-rate of more than 183. He was one of the main reasons behind Royal Challengers Bangalore’s march to the playoffs this season. Apart from Karthik, Venkatesh Iyer has also been left out of the team by Shastri.
The former India allrounder picked stand-in captain KL Rahul and Ruturaj Gaikwad as openers before naming Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant for the middle-order. He then picked Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel as the allrounders.
“I think they will go with the guys they will want to see first – the Rahuls, the Ruturaj Gaikwads – maybe they will open. They will probably give Ishan (Kishan) a break in this game or bat him at three,” Shastri told Star Sports.
“If you bat him (Ishan) at three, then it will be Shreyas (Iyer) at No. 4, (Rishabh) Pant at No. 5, and Hardik (Pandya) at No. 6,” he added.
For the bowling lineup, he went for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel and stated that one between Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik should play.
Ravi Shastri’s Team India XI:
KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh/Umran Malik, Harshal Patel.