IND vs SA T20I series preview: Chance for India to test its bench strength

This series provides a perfect opportunity for the Indian selectors to test new stars emerging from the IPL and plan accordingly for the T20 World Cup 2022

The Indian team would face South Africa in five T20Is starting on June 9 in New Delhi. Indian selectors have decided to rest star players like captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah before the all-important tour of England in late June and July this year. On the other hand, South Africa are coming in with their best possible unit. 

The series provides a perfect opportunity for Indian selectors to try fresh players and see what they have to offer in the five-match long series. 

The ultimate search for a left-arm pacer

India have yearned for a left-arm pacer in their playing eleven at least in limited-overs cricket if not in all three formats ever since the departure of Zaheer Khan. Players like RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Barinder Sran and Khaleel Ahmed have been tried with little to no success. The last entrant in this list was Gujarat’s Arzan Nagwaswalla who was taken on the tour of England but failed to impress. 

T Natarajan looked like filling that spot on the team’s tour down under in 2021, but injuries made sure that he was not at his best. Now, the selectors have zeroed in on Punjab Kings pacer Arshdeep Singh who has shown brilliant control. He can be tested in the death overs and asked to bowl away swingers to the right-handers at the start of the innings as well. 

Thus, Arshdeep is one player who would be looked at very closely by the selection committee with the T20 World Cup 2022 hardly six months away. 

Solving the opening slot conundrum

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, both are not part of the squad and the Indian playing eleven would have two new openers, one of which will surely be KL Rahul. But the problem with having Rahul, Rohit, and Virat in the top three is their inability to get going from the word go. 

According to the data available from the last T20 World Cup held in 2021, the four teams that made it to the semi-finals scored over 40 runs on an average per match in powerplay while India scored only 35. In fact, teams like England and New Zealand scored more than 43 runs on average. 

The need to go big from the start is particularly important and, in that regard, the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul need to show the selectors that they must be given the opportunity to prove their prowess going into the T20 World Cup preparation mode. 

The spinners that would lead the attack

Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, the four spinners who will be taking the two places up for grabs alongside Ravindra Jadeja in India’s T20 World Cup 2022 squad, would be showcasing their skill in this series and they have an excellent opportunity to present their case for inclusion in the World CUP squad. 

When Jadeja comes back, one among Kuldeep or Bishnoi would have to sit out alongside Axar and thus this healthy competition among the two wrist spinners of different kinds might be the biggest help that India would get in winning the series. 

Death overs bowling 

India’s death bowling has always been a problem, even with Jasprit Bumrah in the playing eleven. Now with Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh being introduced into the bowling attack and Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar fully fit and available to bowl, there would be a lot of options for the captain. With Umran Malik mostly being employed in the middle overs with the field spread out, the burden of spacing out his overs would also not be there.

Hence, in the five matches, India could try all bowling options to try and match its rhythm when Bumrah is available for the next series. 

Finding the perfect playing combination 

Finally, there is the importance of having a perfectly aligned playing eleven. When both Rohit and Kohli are available and Rahul also needs to be included in the playing eleven, it would become very tough for the management to push out the perfect combination. But, if the likes of Venkatesh Iyer and Gaikwad perform brilliantly, or even if Deepak Hooda does at number three, it would become easier for the team to play Kohli at number five or not play him at all and play KL Rahul at number four to give the attacking opener and Hooda a chance to go bang-bang at the start of the innings itself. 

Whether or not all these problems will be solved in a span of five matches is yet to be seen. But the target of the Indian team should remain to try out as many combinations as possible to get an idea of whom to play in the next few series before the T20 World Cup.