The upcoming T20I series against South Africa is likely to be more experimental in nature where the Men in Blue would be looking to rotate and give appearances to new faces. The big players including the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah among others, have been rested and their focus remains on the one-off Test against England where India will have a score to settle.
For the series against South Africa, KL Rahul takes charge of the side as captain and he will be assisted by Rishabh Pant as vice-captain. The returns of Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya to the national side are some of the highlights from the squad selection. Meanwhile, the likes of Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik, who have been a revelation in IPL 2022, will be hoping to prove their mettle to the world.
South Africa, in contrast, have named a strong squad for the series. They were also the last team to inflict a defeat on Team India when they secured a 2-1 victory in the Test Series and whitewashed India 3-0 in the ODI series on home soil earlier this year.
Speaking to the media ahead of the first T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on June 9, Rahul Dravid explained that it was absolutely necessary for the big players who play all three formats of the game to get some rest.
“It’s not difficult at all. We (Rohit and I) are in touch. (KL) Rahul has captained before, we are clear on a lot of things. Rohit is one of our all-format players and it is unrealistic to expect all (all format players) to be available for every series,” he said.
Dravid also shed light on the one-off Test against England that is set to begin on July 1. The fifth Test between both the sides was postponed due to a COVID breakout in the Indian camp and it will be played this year. India currently have a 2-1 lead in the Test series and will be looking to etch history on English soil at any cost.
“We need to ensure that they are fit for all the big tournaments, we need to manage them before that to ensure that they are peaking then. We also have the Test match in the UK spilling from last year and we need to ensure we try to be able to get the best side for that Test match,” he further added.
