IND vs SA Live: India vs South Africa Live – The T20 World Cup disaster forced new India head coach Rahul Dravid to look for new faces to bolster the squad. With that in mind, he handed 5 players their T20 debut including Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel and Deepak Hooda. But with just four months left for T20 World Cup 2022, Dravid is yet to get his combination right as Arshdeep Singh & Umran Malik will make it 7 debuts in seven months. Follow IND vs SA T20 Series Live Updates with InsideSport.IN.
India’s failure to reach the semifinal stage in the T20 World Cup rang warning bells. With Rahul Dravid taking charge from the New Zealand series, he never got his first team at his disposal. Since the T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are yet to play a T20I together. They won’t be playing together until the England series.
“I won’t say it’s a problem but it is a tricky situation. Obviously, one would want to have the full squad available for every series but managing the workload is also important. Rohit, Virat, KL, Rishabh, Shami and Bumrah are all multi-format players and they have to be rotated,” a member of the selection committee told InsideSport.
IND vs SA Live: 4 months away from T20 World Cup, Rahul Dravid yet to get his COMBINATION right, set to hand 7 debuts in 7 months
IND vs SA Live: Why Rahul Dravid is facing huge problem with combination?
- Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul haven’t played together in T20s since T20 WC.
- Rohit and Virat have again been rested for the SA series.
- Hardik Pandya has just returned from his injury in the IPL and will make his India comeback in SA series.
- The most hit has been the bowling department.
- Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar haven’t played together since the T20 World Cup.
- Shami last played for India in T20Is in T20 WC.
- Bumrah has played only two T20Is since India’s WC exit.
- In 9 matches since T20 WC, India have handed debuts to 5 players.
- Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik will make that 7 in the South Africa series.
IND vs SA Live: 4 months away from T20 World Cup, Rahul Dravid yet to get his COMBINATION right, set to hand 7 debuts in 7 months
During the West Indies series, Rahul Dravid said that the team management has a clear idea about what the combination will be. But Dinesh Karthik’s return and Venkatesh Iyer’s off-form have made things difficult once again.
Iyer was fast-tracked as a replacement for Hardik Pandya. While he did a decent job, Hardik’s return means, Iyer will be out of favour.
“I think we have got a fair idea between Rohit and myself and the selectors and the management. We’re pretty clear about the balance and the combination (for the T20 World Cup). We are just structuring a little bit of the team around it and also balancing individual workloads as well,” Dravid said.
IND vs SA Live: 4 months away from T20 World Cup, Rahul Dravid yet to get his COMBINATION right, set to hand 7 debuts in 7 months
IND vs SA: Players who have made debuts under Dravid
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Harshal Patel
- Ravi Bishnoi
- Avesh Khan
- Deepak Hooda
However, Team India will play a total of 25 T20Is before the T20 World Cup. But with Test and ODI series, it is not yet clear how many matches, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will feature in together.
Team India’s cricket schedule up to the T20 World Cup
- India vs South Africa – June (5 T20Is)
- India tour of Ireland – June (2 T20Is)
- India tour of England – June -July (1 Test, 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)
- India tour of West Indies – July/August (3 ODIs, 5 T20Is)
- India tour of Sri Lanka – August (2 T20Is)
- Asia Cup 2022 – August / September (Minimum 5)
- India vs Australia – September ( 3 T20Is )
- T20 World Cup 2022 – October /November
IND vs SA Live: 4 months away from T20 World Cup, Rahul Dravid yet to get his COMBINATION right, set to hand 7 debuts in 7 months
“In the times that we live in, it’s never easy. I don’t think there’s a time-frame when you can actually say that okay, now this is the team you want to freeze on. You don’t want to cast your net too wide. We don’t also want to restrict ourselves to just 15 players. We want to give players opportunities, ensure that by the time we get to the World Cup, some of our guys have played at least 10-15-20 games,” Dravid explained.
Despite the experimentations, India have not lost a single match at home with the record stretching to 12 wins on the trot. Now with Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik all set for their debuts against South Africa, Dravid’s experimentation will continue. A few more will make their debuts in the Ireland series as most first-team players will be in England.
IND vs SA Live: 4 months away from T20 World Cup, Rahul Dravid yet to get his COMBINATION right, set to hand 7 debuts in 7 months
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