The Indian cricket team is going to play a 5-match T20I series against South Africa starting from June 9 and the first match will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi. As the COVID-19 restrictions have been removed, all 5 matches will be played at different 5 venues, 2nd T20I (June 12) will be played at Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium, 3rd T20I (June 14) will be played at Dr. Y.S.R. ACA VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, 4th T20I (June 17) will be played at Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium and the 5th and final T20I (June 19) will be played at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
KL Rahul will be leading the team in this series as the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has been rested by the Board of Control for Cricket in India along with the other senior players – Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. Rishabh Pant has been appointed as the vice-captain of the team in this series. However, there are few former Indian cricketers including RP Singh who feel that Rohit Sharma should have played in the series and there was no need of giving him a break.
Now, the Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has spoken on this matter and answered all those who are questioning Rohit Sharma’s absence from the SA series. Dravid states that Rohit Sharma plays in all the three formats and it should not be expected from him to be available for all the series. Dravid further adds that it is really important to give rest to the players who are an important part of the team.
India and South Africa have faced each other 15 times in T20Is, out of which India has won 9 matches and South Africa has won 6 matches. In a question related to records, Rahul Dravid says that he doesn’t give much importance to records, adding that the team will need to play good cricket for winning the matches and even if it has tasted defeat, it will be a learning experience for the squad.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma had a disastrous IPL 2022 as he wasn’t able to score a single fifty in the tournament and his team Mumbai Indians ended the tournament at last position in the points table with only 4 wins in 14 matches played by it.
Which team do you think will win the series – India or South Africa?