Team India’s atmosphere, from the tranquility of Thiruvananthapuram, suddenly takes a chaotic look – much like the traffic in Guwahati, thrown out of gear amid the Durga Puja rush and the construction of the flyover.
Bumrah was expected to play a key role in the Indian team’s campaign in Australian conditions, but his “back stress fracture” ruled him out of the ICC’s premier event starting in three weeks’ time.
The ongoing series was originally planned as a final tune-up for Rahul Dravid’s team but Bumrah’s absence from the remaining two T20Is has now raised more questions than answers.
Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj have been included in the squad as injury replacements, but they are not yet in the squad for the World Cup.
The burning question is whether the remaining two T20 matches will give the team management a chance to test Bumrah’s replacement.
Veteran Mohammed Shami, who is in the World Cup squad as a stand-by, is not here for the South Africa series.
Shami has recovered from COVID-19 and is more likely to make it to Australia due to his Down Under experience.
If that is the case, they may have very little playing time before the World Cup warm-up match against the defending champions on 16 October.
For the South Africa series, the team has again fit Deepak Chahar who is also included in the World Cup standby.
Chahar (4-0-24-2) when within power on the greenfield track with left-arm young fast gun Arshdeep Singh (4-0-32-3) reduced the Proteas to 9/5, he was fine- Look fine India took a 1-0 lead.
But swing will be out of the equation in Down Under conditions and Chahar is more in the mold of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is in a World Cup XI alongside Arshdeep.
Siraj, on the other hand, has struggled of late and inspired very little confidence.
It is a different debate altogether why Bhuvneshwar, who lacks experience – three T20Is – has started leaking runs in Australia and no longer holds an ace, as seen in their Asia Cup elimination last month. went.
The same remains to be seen for World Cup-goers Harshal Patel as well how the think-tank settles the puzzle.
In the past, he has overcome major hurdles, such as in 2020-21 when he won one-on-one series in Australia with his fifth or sixth-choice bowlers.
letter effect
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Thankfully, that’s not the case in the spin department.
Axar Patel has finally made a revelation after Ravindra Jadeja’s knee surgery. Struggling to find a spot, Patel, a similar replacement to the ace Indian all-rounder, has ticked all the boxes.
He was the top wicket-taker – eight wickets at an average of 7.87 – in India’s 2-1 win over world T20I champions in the previous series.
And against South Africa too he was bowling 1/16 in the middle overs with Ravichandran Ashwin, because that’s a department that looks orderly.
For someone who has a career strike rate of over 136 from 30 T20Is, it is his batting that has inspired confidence in skipper Rohit Sharma: “I would love to see him bat as well.”
But India will turn to Australia to provide big confidence with their star-studded batting. The top four, including their star batsman Virat Kohli, look to be in their field.
KL Rahul also came back between the runs in the first T20I with a slow but steady half-century, it was a huge confidence booster.
It’s just that their middle order with the likes of Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik seems low at play time.
Pant, who is likely to be the X-factor in Australia, hasn’t had a chance to bat since his return from the Asia Cup, where he had a mixed campaign.
On the other hand, designated Indian finisher Karthik has faced nine balls in the last seven matches as pushing him up would not be a bad move.
Elusive series win in sight
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From the series point of view, India will be chasing their first win over the Proteas in the format at home and a win will seal it. It is a different matter that it will have little importance in the big picture.
It is no secret that they have struggled in world tournaments and the 2007 champions, who last made the semi-finals in 2016, will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2021 UAE edition, when they failed to make a knockout.
Boasting the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Enrique Nortje, the South African bowling was lacking in sting after dismissing Rohit and Kohli cheaply.
Bavuma will be hopeful that he will put on a better performance and the coin will also turn in his favor to bring the Indian batting to the fore.
Teams (from)
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed and Mohammad Siraj.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Bjorn Fortuyn, Reeza Hendrix, Henrik Klaasen, Marco Janssen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Enrique Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwayne Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Riley Rossouw, Tabrez Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
The match will start at 7 PM IST.
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