India vs South Africa: Team India grapple with Jasprit Bumrah riddle as it chases rare series win against South Africa | Cricket News
From the tranquility of Thiruvananthapuram, Team India the atmosphere suddenly took on an air of chaos – like the traffic in Guwahati, derailed between the rush of Durga Puja and the construction of the overpass.
Bumrah was expected to play a key role in the Indian team’s campaign in Australian conditions but a “back fracture” ruled him out of the ICC top event, which kicks off in three weeks.
The ongoing series was originally planned as the final edit for Rahul Dravid’s team but Bumrah’s absence from the remaining two T20I has now raised more questions than it answers.
Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj have been added to the team as replacements due to injury but they are not in the squad for the World Cup, as of now.
Umesh Yadav (AP Photo)
The burning question is, whether the remaining two T20Is will provide the group management scope to test Bumrah’s replacement.
Thick Mohammad Shamiwho was in the World Cup squad, was not here for the South Africa series.
Shami has recovered from COVID-19 and has more opportunities to come to Australia thanks to his Down Under experience.
If that’s the case, he’ll likely have little game time ahead of their World Cup warm-up against the defending champions on October 16.
For the SA series, the team had a comeback match Deepak Chahar is also a character in World Cup standby.
Chahar (4-0-24-2) proved very brave when with the young left-handed speed gun Arshdeep Singh (4-0-32-3) reduced Proteas to 9/5 strength on the Greenfield track as India leads 1-0.
Arshdeep Singh (AP Photo)
But swing will be out of the equation in Under and Chahar conditions more than in the framework of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is in World Cup XI with Arshdeep.
On the other hand, Siraj struggled with late times and didn’t build confidence very much.
It’s a different argument altogether that the inexperienced Bhuvneshwar – three T20Is – in Australia has started running in leaks and no longer holds the ace position, as seen in the knockout match in Asian Cup last month.
Ditto for the Harshal Patel has ended the World Cup as it remains to be seen how the organization consulting management to arrange the jigsaw puzzle.
In the past, they have overcome bigger hurdles, like when in 2020-21 they won a head-to-head series in Australia against their fifth or sixth choice pitchers. .
Axis EFFECT
Thankfully, that’s not the case in the rotary department.
Axar Patel has been revealed after Ravindra Jadeja’s knee surgery finally cemented his position. From struggling to find a spot, Patel, a similar substitute for India’s almighty, ticked all the boxes.
He was the top catcher – eight catches with an average of 7.87 – in India’s 2-1 win over the T20I world champions in their final series here.
Axar Patel (BCCI photo)
And in the game against South Africa, he is also in his top spot – 1/16 – bowling at middleweight alongside Ravichandran Ashwin because it’s a sport that looks sorted.
For someone with a career strike rate of 136 plus 30 T20I, it was his strike that inspired captain Rohit Sharma: “I’d love to see him hit the ball too.”
But India is going to Australia with their star-studded polish offering great confidence. The top four, including star smasher Virat Kohli, looked at their area.
That KL Rahul also back among the runs with a slow but steady 50 in the first T20I was a big confidence booster.
It’s just that their mid-order with the likes of Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik seems short in game time.
Pant, who is likely to become the X-factor in Australia, has not had any batting opportunities since returning from the Asian Cup, where he had a mixed campaign.
On the other hand, Karthik, the Indian designated finisher, has faced nine balls in the last seven games because pushing them higher wouldn’t be a bad ploy.
ELUSIVE SERIES WINNING
From a series point of view, India will be chasing their first win over Proteas at home and a win will contribute to that. It’s such a different thing that it would make little sense in the bigger picture.
Photo PTI
It is no secret that they have struggled at world tournaments and the 2007 champion, who last reached the semi-finals in 2016, hopes to avoid a repeat of a 2021 UAE match. back when they failed to make it to the knockout stages.
Boasting names like Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, South African bowling has lost its appeal after the duo cheaply eliminated Rohit and Kohli.
Bavuma hopes that they will give a more improved performance and the coin toss will also benefit him to test the Indians’ batting.
Team (word)
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (week), Dinesh Karthik (week), Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra ChahalAxar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed and Mohammad Siraj.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (Captain), Quinton de Kock (week), Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius , Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
