Team India look for a winning start to 2019 home series against South Africa
Sakshi Kothari [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
India and South Africa will go head to head on Sunday in the first T20I in Dharamsala of the three match series of South Africa’s ongoing 2019 India tour as both teams strive for success. Team India go into this game as the favourites.
Date & Time : 15th September 2019, 7:00 PM IST
Venue : HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala
Team India after an immensely successful tour of the West Indies will have high hopes for this home series. Although South Africa will be a different test altogether.
India will play three T20I’s first up then three Tests. The ODI leg will be played next year. All the best to the team.
Talking about the first game, it’s in the Northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. So should be a cold encounter.
In terms of the game plan the theory is simple bat first and score over 200 runs or either chase at this venue. All three departments will need to come good.
On the other hand, South Africa after their unsuccessful 2019 Cricket World Cup will now be back to the drawing board. They are back to their comfort zone of playing bilateral series’s.
Anyway’s this tour will be a tough one for The Proteas as touring India is a tough challenge for any opposition. But they must prevail in order for success.
First up it’s a 3 match T20I series, a good preparation for next year’s T20 World Cup. South African players play in the IPL, so they must be familiar with the conditions.
They need to have a knowledge of Dharamsala as they must bat well here. Bowling is always their strength as is fielding. Good luck to them.
India are ahead in terms of the T20I head to head against South Africa and they will look to continue the good work.
Team news and possible line-ups
Quinton de Kock will captain South Africa against India in this T20I series.
As for Team India, Ravindra Jadeja is available and might play.
South Africa XI : Q. de Kock (C&WK), R. Hendricks, R. van der Dussen, Miller, Bavuma, Phehlukwayo, Pretorius, Rabada, Shamsi, Fortuin, B. Hendricks.
India XI : Kohli (C), R. Sharma, Dhawan, Iyer, Pant (WK), H. Pandya, K. Pandya, W. Sundar, D. Chahar, Saini, K. Ahmed.
Prediction
I expect India to win this game to start off the T20I series.
