India Playing 11 for 1st T20I vs South Africa (Predicted): Focus on Umran, Hardik, Karthik at New Delhi

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New Delhi, June 1: India will face South Africa in the first T20I on June 9 at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi, sans a few familiar names like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma.

It does not mean the SA can take this India side lightly as the home unit has assembled some players who have good enough experience in this format.

The team will be led by KL Rahul, who recently captained Lucknow Super Giants to the IPL 2022 Eliminator.

India have also given chances to the likes of Ishan Kishan, Venkatesh Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad despite them going through a lukewarm IPL 2022 for the respective teams.

But two members will be watched keenly — Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik. Both Hardik and Karthik had very good IPL 2022.

Hardik had led newcomers Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 title, beating Rajasthan Royals in the in the final. On the other side, Karthik’s cameos had a big role in Royal Challengers Bangalore reaching till the IPL 2022 Qualifier 2.

These two players might just have a bigger role to play as India is bracing to hit the road to the T20 World Cup 2022, to be played in Australia later this year.

So, the selectors will be keen to know how they perform in that blue national jersey. Another exciting talent to look forward to is fast bowler Umran Malik.

He has taken the cricket world by storm, crossing the 150 mph mark so often in the IPL 2022 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. The management might just given him a go to tap in on the momentum.

If they feel, Umran needs some more time then they can fall back upon the slightly more experienced Avesh Khan.

So, here we are looking at India's possible playing 11 for the first India vs SA T20I.

1 India Squad for SA T20Is

KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.

India Playing 11 (Predicted)

1. Openers

1. KL Rahul (Captain), 2. Ishan Kishan.

2. Middle-order batsmen

3. Shreyas Iyer, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Dinesh Karthik.

3. All-rounders / bowlers

6. Hardik Pandya, 7. Axar Patel, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9. Harshal Patel, 10. Yuzvendra Chahal, 11. Umran Malik / Avesh Khan.