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India strive for fearless cricket in T20 series against South Africa
With the next T20 World Cup just six months away, the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team will be hoping to find some answers
T20 cricket in South Africa does evoke fond memories for India, for it was here that MS Dhoni's team won the inaugural T20 World Cup 16 years ago. The win gave the Indian Premier League, still six months away from its inaugural edition, the necessary wings, and cricket was never the same again. As India find themselves on South African shores again — the first T20I will be played in Durban on Saturday — they are looking to unlock the ever-evolving T20 puzzle despite being armed with youngsters bred on IPL's ethos. At stake is a three-match series, but the Suryakumar Yadav-led team will hope to find some answers with the next T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States only six months away.
India go into this series on the back of a 4-1 win over Australia. While it is easy to put that result to the absence of a number of Australia's first-choice players after the 50-over World Cup victory, it is worth noting that India fielded a raw side of their own. Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad gave a good account of themselves, regularly giving India blazing starts. Jaiswal did his growing reputation no harm, logging the best strike rate among Indian batters (168.29) who took guard in all five matches. Gaikwad, his opening partner, topped the scoring charts with 223 runs including a ton, hitting most fours and sixes by any batter across both sides.
India's safety-first approach has proved their undoing in the last two T20 World Cups, and the jury is still out on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's efficacy in the shortest format. While the seasoned duo was central to India's unbeaten run to the ODI World Cup final recently, their styles — and strike rates — have increasingly come under scrutiny in T20s.
With T20s fast rendering the anchor redundant, it's imperative for India to have batters who can put the opposition under pressure from the start. It is in this context that this series must be viewed. Gaikwad and Jaiswal are joined by Shubman Gill in the squad, giving India three quality openers to choose from. All of them possess the ability to switch gears at will. With Jaiswal, in particular, showing the intent to blaze away early in his innings, a decent outing in South Africa will do his chances for the World Cup no harm.
If the openers can begin positively, it will allow Suryakumar — his T20 record is imperious — the freedom to do his thing. And in Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma, India have enough firepower to set the stage alight during the middle overs. In the absence of the injured Hardik Pandya, Rinku and Jitesh will be eager to show their credentials as finishers — another area that India haven't quite nailed recently.
Out of the 17 players who are part of the T20 squad, only three — Shreyas Iyer, Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Kishan — are also part of the 50-over series. For them, a good show in the T20s will certainly boost confidence heading into the ODIs. Suryakumar asserted that his team will not let go of the "fearless approach" it adopted against the Aussies in the last series.
“The players put their hands up against Australia and came up with fearless cricket, and we need to play the same against South Africa. I just told them (players) to do exactly what they do in franchise cricket,” he said.
Suryakumar also underlined the value of doing well in a series outside the subcontinent. "When you go outside India, you're always out of your comfort zone and when you do really well out of your comfort zone, it makes a lot of noise and that really encourages the boys. So, really looking forward to the series," added Suryakumar.
On the bowling front, pace duties will be shared by Mukesh, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar while world No.1 T20I bowler Ravi Bishnoi will test the Proteas with his leg-spin. He will have the in-form and experienced duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav for company while India also have off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar in the squad. The question of the sixth bowling option did come up in the pre-match presser and a smiling Surya said the team even has "a seventh or an eighth bowling option."
Statistically speaking, India start the series as favourites, having won two of their last four T20I series against South Africa, with the other two being drawn. The last time South Africa beat India in a T20I series was back in October 2015, when they had won 2-0 in India. India's last T20 series in South Africa (2017-18) produced a 2-1 result for the visitors.
