India is all set to begin their home season against South Africa with the first T20I at Dharamsala on September 15, Sunday.

This will also be South Africa’s first assignment after the World Cup. The Proteas have won their last four T20I series and hence will be in good shape.

As for the Men In Blue, they’ll be missing the services of ace paceman Jasprit Bumrah who has been rested. The absence of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will give the youngsters a chance to prove themselves on the road to the T20 World Cup next year.

India emerged victorious in the previous T20I series between both the teams last year. However, the visitors are just a notch above them when it comes to the ICC rankings. South Africa are placed at the third position while India are ranked fourth.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will be India’s choice at the top unless they decide to rope in KL Rahul. Rohit Sharma scored a fluent 67 in India’s last T20I at Lauderhill. He will look to start his home season in the same form.

Skipper Virat Kohli will cherish batting at number three but his primary task will be to start building a team that could lift the T20 World Cup next year in Australia.

Rishabh Pant threw away a couple of chances before displaying his mettle at Guyana in the final T20I where he scored 65* (42). The wicketkeeper-batsman would want to be more consistent in the shortest format and cement his place behind the sticks.

Shreyas Iyer’s fine form in the ODIs has earned him a spot in the shortest format. On the other hand, Manish Pandey has been handed another chance to prove himself.

The series will also mark the return of Hardik Pandya who will be playing his first assignment after the World Cup. He is expected to be an integral part of India’s T20I side with his able contributions in both the departments.

At the same time, Krunal Pandya’s progress in T20Is has been phenomenal. Other than troubling the opposition batsmen with spin, his finishing skills will also come in handy as we saw against South Africa ‘A’.

Ravindra Jadeja is expected to lead the spin department which also has some amazing young prospects in Rahul Chahar and Washington Sundar.

With no Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the onus will fall upon Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini to deliver with the ball.

As for South Africa, Reeza Hendricks who was the leading run-scorer in Proteas’ T20I series against Sri Lanka will be expected to open alongside captain Quinton de Kock.

Youngster Raasie van der Dussen will be hoping to make a mark in the subcontinent while David Miller will look to make his experience count in the middle order and help Proteas finish in a better position. The lower order will miss the services of Chris Morris.

The pace department looks solid with Kagiso Rabada, Junior Dala and Andile Phehlukwayo in their bowling ranks. Anirch Nortje was the leading wicket taker in the ‘A’ series while Beuran Hendricks also picked five wickets.

The other new faces in the T20I team include Temba Bavuma and Bjorn Fortuin who was the leading wicket taker in the CSA T20 challenge this season.

With the ball expected to turn on Indian pitches, George Linde is an interesting addition alongside Tabraiz Shamsi. He will be accustomed to the Indian pitches by now, having been a part of the ‘A’ tour.

With chances of dew in the evening, teams could prefer chasing at Dharamsala.

Key Battles

Rohit Sharma vs Kagiso Rabada

The South African spearhead will be looking to recreate his magic with the ball here after a successful IPL stint. However, for that, he will have to combat Rohit Sharma who is capable of going big if not accounted for early.

Will Rohit shift gears and go bonkers or is Rabada going to stand on his way, it is going to be an interesting battle to watch out for, irrespective of the result.

Krunal Pandya vs Quinton de Kock

The Proteas skipper has played Krunal Pandya in the MI nets. Hence Kohli may try to use Krunal in the powerplay overs in a bid to get an early breakthrough.

Quinton de Kock is unstoppable when he gets going and Krunal Pandya will be aware of this. If the ball is tossed to the senior Pandya, this will surely be a battle to watch out for.