The Men in Blue have been in simply exceptional form in the limited overs formats. They defeated South Africa 5-1 to win their maiden series victory in the Rainbow Nation. It was not the scoreline but the way India literally thrashed the Proteas will worry the hosts in the near future.
However, with the T20I series kicking off tomorrow, the hosts will look to salvage some pride. They will look to come out with some impressive performances in the shortest format of the game. They have brought in a wholesome of changes in a desperate attempt to change their forutnes.
India, on the other hand, have a settled unit and the only inclusion in the team might be of Suresh Raina. The southpaw is returning to the team after over a year.
The Indian top 3 contributed 5 centuries in the series with captain Virat Kohli scoring 3 of them. He played an amazing knock in the final ODI, scoring 129* off 96. The knock was studded with 19 fours and a couple of sixes. While the wrist spinning duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have literally spun a web around the South African batters and they haven’t been able to get over it.
Chahal and Kuldeep have shared 33 wickets between them in the ODI series. They will look to continue their prowess even in the shortest format. South Africa, on the other hand, will be playing with a new-look team. The opening slot will change and there will be a new captain in the form of Jean-Paul Duminy. Meanwhile, for India Manish Pandey is also expected to make a comeback.
Predicted XI
India
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal
South Africa
JJ Smuts, Reeza Hendricks, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Miller, Heinrich Klassen, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dane Paterson, Tabraiz Shamsi, Aaron Phangiso