Indian Team Playing XI Prediction for T20I Series vs South Africa

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee officially announced the squad that will travel to South Africa for the upcoming 4 match T20I series vs the Proteas, commencing from 8th November.

The Indian team squad for the South Africa T20I series was revealed alongwith the squad for the most anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series squad.

The selection have made numerous big calls in the squad selection. Players who will be part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but also is part of the T20I setup, have been excluded for the series against South Africa, the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant etc.

Suryakumar Yadav is set to lead the team while Abhishek Sharma keeps his opening slot with regular opener Jaiswal part of the Test team. Jitesh Sharma is back in the squad with Ramandeep Singh and Vijaykumar Vyshak included for the first time.

India Squad for T20I Series vs South Africa

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.

Now that we have the squad for the T20I series in our hand, we take a look at Team India’s playing 11 prediction for the T20I series vs South Africa.

Opening

24-years-old batter Abhishek Sharma is set to continue as the opening batter for this series despite not a significantly strong outing in the series vs Bangladesh. Sharma keeps his place while regular opener Jaiswal is gonna be with the Test team.

India’s latest centurian in the T20I format, Sanju Samson is set to open the inning after his success at the top in the T20I series vs Bangladesh. Samson scored 150 runs in 3 innings including a century in final T20I.

Middle-Order

Team India could be taking the field with a strong middle-order that include as many as 4 players than normal 3 player. Tilak Varma, who is making his return to the team, is likely to come in at number 3.

At number 4, we will have the Indian T20I team skipper Suryakumar Yadav. Normally Surya bats at number 3 but his position might be very flexible and could also slot in at number 3 while Tilak goes to 4.

Little dynamite Rinku Singh is set to continue with his role at number 3. Rinku has very good record in at number 5, notably his latest score of 53 runs of 29 balls in the 2nd T20I vs Bangladesh, where team India were struggling after early collapse.

Team India is expected to add depth to their middle-order with the addition of Jitesh Sharma. Sharma is making a comeback to the Indian team after last playing in the T20I series vs Afghanistan in January 2024.

All-Rounders

The two all-rounders in the playing XI are set to be the duo of Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel. Hardik is not a member of Indian Test team while Axar Patel has been left-out of the Test team for the upcoming series vs Australia.

Bowlers

In the bowling department, we will have the trio of Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan. Varun made an outstanding comeback into the Indian team in the Test series vs Bangladesh after being dropped out of the team since in 2021 T20 World Cup.

Arshdeep Singh is going to lead the bowling attack in this series in the absence of star pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who instead is part of the Test team. Avesh Khan is likely to be the other pace bowler in the team given team India might want to have the left and right combination of bowler. If not, Yash Dayal is likely to start ahead of Avesh Khan.

India Playing 11 Prediction for South Africa T20I Series

Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan/Yash Dayal.

India vs South Africa Schedule and Venue

The India tour of South Africa 4 match T20I series begins on 8th November in Durban. The following matches are on 10 and 13th November followed by the last match of the series on 15th November.