The South African side are in India with their strongest available team as they also have the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in the back of their minds. This is their last opportunity to test combinations and fine-tune.

India has included their big guns for the series in the form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

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The team will however be without Deepak Hooda who is injured, and Mohammed Shami, who in turn is still positive for Covid-19. This has promoted India to call-up Shahbaz Ahmed and Shreyas Iyer.

According to the returning Proteas captain, Temba Bavuma, they welcome playing against the best India has to offer.

“Those are big names with big pedigree behind them,” said Bavuma, who himself will be in action again after recovering from an elbow injury.

“As you saw in the last while, their performances have boosted the confidence of the team. We expect them come leading from the front, and it is good for us to come up against the best.

“You expect those guys to bring a lot of confidence and X-factor into the team.

“I expect the series to be a good one, a competitive one. We were challenged in all aspects of our game during the previous series against India and I think we answered it quite well.”

Wednesday, 28 September 2022’s first T20 International at the Greenfield International Stadium starts at 15:30.

OFM Sport