Apart from the audition stage for the IPL 2025 auction, the South Africa vs India T20I series was touted to give opportunities to uncapped players. However, those who are uncapped remains the same as far as the first T20I is concerned. Suryakumar Yadav, who lost the toss to Aiden Markram, has handed no debuts in Durban. The likes of Ramandeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Yash Dayal were likely to get their maiden international cap but it wasn’t to be.
No debut for Ramandeep or an extra pacer
Despite some rain threat going around, Team India have gone with an unusual combination. The Men in Blue were expected to play either of Vijaykumar Vyshak or Yash Dayal but instead have opted for an extra spinner. Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi are both in the playing XI for the opening T20 international. Hence, India have gone with three spinners, including Axar Patel, who is slated to bat at number seven.
A long tail could have been avoided by including Ramandeep Singh. But the hard-hitting batter, who is also retained by KKR for Rs 4 crore, will have to wait for his chance. Ramandeep is a multi-faceted player, a quality that the Indian management loves to have in the team these days. He is a proper striker of a cricket ball, and can even bowl those medium pace. In 57 T20s, he has hammered 544 runs at a SR of 170.00.
Team India Playing XI in 1st SA vs IND T20I
Sanju Samson (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Varun Chakravarthy
South Africa Playing XI in 1st SA vs IND T20I
Ryan Rickelton (WK), Aiden Markram (C), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Partrick Kruger, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter
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