India’s predicted squad for the T20I series against South Africa at home
India (Image Source: BCCI)
India will be hosting South Africa in a five-match T20I series due to begin on 9th June 2022. The Men in Blue will use this series as an opportunity to test out some of the new faces for the T20 World Cup scheduled to take place later this year in Australia.
India will be looking to include some of the top performers in the Indian T20 League 2022 in the squad for the South Africa series. Reports are ripe that the national selectors will be looking to build two separate squads. One of the squads will be touring England due to being on 1st July, while the other squad will be playing against South Africa and Ireland in T20Is.
The two-squad approach from the selectors is to give the multi-format players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and others rest after a grueling Indian T20 League 2022 season. While new faces like Tilak Varma and Umran Malik might get their chance to don the Indian jersey for the first time, veteran campaigners like Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya are slated to return to the team. In all probabilities, Shikhar Dhawan will be leading the new-look team of India in South Africa and Ireland series. Dhawan has scored consistently in ITL 2022, amassing 421 runs in the tournament at a strike rate of 122.74 and an average of 38.27. His consistency is bound to impress the selectors and he will be an ideal leader in grooming the youngsters in the squad for the upcoming challenges.
There is also a probability that Kuldeep Yadav will also see his return to the team. After two quiet seasons in the Indian T20 League, Kuldeep has been sensational in ITL 2022. He has picked up 20 wickets in the tournament from 13 matches at an average of 19.3 and his strike rate for the tournament is 13.7. Speaking of Hardik Pandya, he has been in great batting form after his return from injury. He has scored 413 runs in the tournament at an average of 41.3 and a strike rate of 131.53. He has also been bowling in a good rhythm.
On the other hand, selectors will like to give new talents like Umran Malik and Tilak Varma sometime in the national squad and keep them ready for the T20 World Cup. Varma has scored 376 runs in the tournament at an average of 37.6 and a strike rate of 131.47. Malik on the other hand has impressed everybody with his sheer pace. He has picked up 21 wickets in 13 matches in the tournament at an average of 20.0.
Let us take a look at the probable squad of India for the series.
Shikhar Dhawan (C), Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Mohsin Khan, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Prasidh Krishna.
