The series opener in Durban was washed out on Sunday and there is a threat of rain on the second T20I too, at the Dafabet St George’s Park Cricket Stadium, Gqeberha, on Tuesday.
This will not be good news for India not just in the context of the T20I series in South Africa but also looking ahead to the World Cup in June. There are only five matches left to assess the young side and nail down the combination.
India have been trying to promote the brand of fearless cricket the youngsters have been playing and it would have been an ideal opportunity to test them in the alien conditions.
The likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma have already shown their talent in the limited opportunities in this format. With rain forecast for Tuesday and the third match in Johannesburg on Thursday, the three T20Is against Afghanistan would then be the barometer for selection. The early stages of the IPL will also be taken into consideration.
“I feel there are limited T20s going forward, before the T20 World Cup, but then we play 14 league games in the IPL as well,” stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav had said on the eve of the series opener against South Africa in Durban.
South Africa too are faced with a similar situation. Besides the T20Is against India, they have another three matches in the Caribbean in the lead-up to the marquee tournament. They will also have to fall back on the SA20, their IPL-style meet, which will run from January 10 to February 10.
“It’s a strange one,” South Africa captain Aiden Markram said. “Not ideal that we have only six games but we’re fortunate that there’s still a lot of T20 cricket, in terms of SA20 and the domestic T20 competition just after that.”
These matches could have been an opportunity for India to sort out their sixth bowling option in the absence of the injured Hardik Pandya. The part-time spin of Yashasvi Jaiswal or Tilak Varma could come in handy.
None of the Indians in the current squad have played a T20I in South Africa, but Surya has backed them to adapt to the conditions.
The focus will also be on Ravi Bishnoi, the top T20I bowler in world cricket.
He has enjoyed a dream run after finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the T20I series against Australia.
He might pose a new challenge to a South African line-up that still struggles against leg spinners.
India will face a tricky situation when it comes to team selection. They have to pick between the returning Shubman Gill and Gaikwad to partner Jaiswal. Also, if they plan to play only one spinner, it will be a toss-up between Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav.
The Indians are expected to be without Deepak Chahar, who hasn’t travelled with the team because of an illness in the family.
