In a fickle and unpredictable format, India have had arguably the best year for a team, winning 23 of their 25 T20Is in 2024. It was also the year they really embraced the format, abandoning their safety-with-bat approach to playing. Modern and offensive T20 cricket.
The results couldn’t have been better. They whitewashed Afghanistan and Bangladesh at home and did the same in Sri Lanka away. Meanwhile, their subsidiary won 4-1 in Zimbabwe. But all that pales in comparison to their unbeaten run to lift the T20 World Cup in June.
Friday’s T20I in Johannesburg will be his last outing in this format this year. After taking an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series, they will be eager to make another positive note.
Until facing India in the final in Barbados, South Africa was also unbeaten in the T20 World Cup. But on both sides of the tournament, their performances have been disappointing. It can be argued that they were almost always missing one or more of their starting players, but the same can be said for their opponents as well.
Even if they win on Friday, South Africa’s winless streak in the bilateral T20I series will be eight. Still, 2-2 is much better than 3-1.
forms guide
South Africa LWLLW (last five T20Is, most recent first)
India WLWWW
In the spotlight: Marco Jansen and Abhishek Sharma
Team News: Is Peter Returning?
South Africa could consider bringing back local player Nqabayomzi Peter in place of Gerald Coetzee.
South Africa (probable): 1 Ryan Rickelton, 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (captain), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Gerald Coetzee/ Nqabayomzi Peter, 9 Andile Simelane, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 years old Lutho Sipamla
With Ramandeep Singh proving his worth with the bat for Centurion, India will be hesitant to make changes.
India (probable): 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (captain), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
Course and conditions: Rain can delay the start
Stats and trivia: Arshdeep gets close to Chahal
- In 2024, India surpassed the 200 mark eight times, the most by any team in a single year.
- Arshdeep Singh needs five more wickets to overtake Yuzvendra Chahal as India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is.
- This year, Aiden Markram has 241 runs in 17 T20Is at an average of 16.06 and a strike rate of 120.50. The last time he scored a half-century in this format was 28 innings ago.
- Tilak Varma’s 107 not out in Centurion was the 21st T20I by an India batsman. New Zealand (12) and Australia (11) are the only other teams to have ten or more T20I tons.
