The young Indian T20 team will be in action once again in less than a month. However, this time against South Africa and in their own backyard. Hence, these four matches won't be a cakewalk that the Bangladesh series ended up being and Suryakumar Yadav and Co will be tested against the Proteas outfit which has the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen and David Miller returning to the fold.
With the next T20 World Cup scheduled for early 2026, this series may not serve an immediate purpose but might be a building block for both teams, looking to zero down on their core group in the shortest format with some of the leading players unavailable. India had three veterans retire while for the Proteas, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi were not considered after giving up the national contract. There is no news on Quinton de Kock, but he is supposedly still in the plans.
With Sanju Samson making the opener and wicketkeeper's spot his own, the focus will shift to the middle order and the pace attack with India slightly inexperienced in those two departments. Since most of the all-rounders and pacers are in or bound for Australia, there is a chance for the likes of Ramandeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Yash Dayal to show what they have got. South Africa might have a slight edge but this spunky Indian team can't be taken lightly, especially since most of them have ripped the page - fear of failure from their dictionary.
My Dream11 team for SA vs IND 1st T20I
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (vc), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Heinrich Klaasen (c), David Miller, Gerald Coetzee, Ottneil Baartman. Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy
Probable Playing XIs
South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Nqaba Peter, Ottneil Baartman
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav(c)/Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma/Ramandeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Varun Chakaravarthy
