After two long months of playing in the Indian Premier League, the cricketers are back to international duty. South Africa are in India for five T20Is, a series which offers India a chance to create a world record. India have won 12 consecutive T20I matches and are on par with Afghanistan. India will create history if they beat South Africa in the first T20, which will be their 13th consecutive win.
This will be South Africa's first T20I tournament since missing out on qualifying for the semi-finals at the 2021 T20 World Cup. This is also the first series for both teams without a bio-bubble.
Full schedule
1st T20I – 9 June, Thursday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi from 7.00 PM IST
2nd T20I – 12 June, Sunday at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack from 7.00 PM IST
3rd T20I – 14 June, Tuesday at the VDCA Stadium in Vizag from 7.00 PM IST
4th T20I – 17 June, Friday at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot from 7.00 PM IST
5th T20I – 19 June, Sunday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru from 7.00 PM IST
Squads
There are a few new faces in India’s squad for the series against South Africa. Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh have earned maiden call-ups after impressing in the IPL 2022. Dinesh Karthik, who was one of the best finishers this IPL, has earned a recall to the national side after nearly three years. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are rested and KL Rahul will lead the team temporarily.
South Africa, on the other hand, have named a 16-member squad. Tristan Stubbs has received his maiden Proteas call-up, while Anrich Nortje, Reeza Hendricks and Heinrich Klaasen are back in the team after recovering from injuries. Veteran all-rounder Wayne Parnell is also returning to the T20 set up for the first time since the tour of England in 2017.
India: KL Rahul (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, 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, Marco Jansen.
The important stats
India and South Africa have played 15 T20 matches against each other. Out of those 15, India has won nine, while South Africa has come up on top six times. In the past, South Africa have played two T20I series in India - the first one in October 2015 which they won 2-0 and the second in September 2018, which was a 1-1 draw.
Rohit Sharma is India’s highest run-getter against South Africa with 362 runs in 13 matches. But he has been rested for this series. For South Africa, JP Duminy has scored most runs against India – 295 in 10 games.
The highest wicket-taker for India against South Africa is Ravichandran Ashwin (10), while the highest wicket-taker for South Africa against India is Carl Junior Dala (7).
Approaching milestones
KL Rahul is 169 runs away from registering 2,000 runs in T20 internationals.
Yuzvendra Chahal is two wickets away from becoming India’s highest wicket-taker in T20 internationals.
Kagiso Rabada is one wicket away from 50 T20 International wickets.
India one win away from most consecutive T20 International wins. As aforementioned, India currently have 12 wins on a trot, the joint-most consecutive wins alongside Afghanistan.
