South Africa-India T20I Preview

South Africa-India T20I Preview

Could Virat Kohli (right) be a key man for India in the Twenty20 International in Durban?

©REUTERS/Amit Dave (INDIA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

South Africa v India - only Twenty20 International - Durban - 9th January

After the Test series was drawn at 1-1 at Newlands, CapeTown, the action now shifts to the only T20 international between India and South Africa at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban. This will be first time this venue will be hosting an international cricket match.

There will be new faces coming into the shortest format of the game for both teams. South Africa will have Johan Botha as skipper while Mahendra Singh Dhoni will resume his duties of leading the India outfit.

The Indian batting card is likely to have the young brigade of Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh constituting the middle order along with captain Dhoni.

It remains uncertain, however, who will open the Indian innings with Virender Sehwag in the absence of Gautam Gambhir, ruled out with an injury. The bowling might see changes as Ravichandran Ashwin, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra will be hoping to get a game, as the Indian attack was spearheaded by Zaheer Khan with Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh playing the support cast in the recently concluded Test series.

South Africa will have T20 specialists Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Botha in their side. But, the player to look out for will be Chevrolet Warriors fast bowler Juan "Rusty" Theron, who impressed with his performance in the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 competition.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have confirmed that South African Test captain Graeme Smith will miss Sunday's T20 international against India because of a bruised hand, which could be a blow to their chances and will require some reshuffling of their pack.

India have a better record with three wins in four T20 matches played against the Proteas.

Possible line-ups:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra

South Africa: Johan Botha (c), Hashim Amla, David Miller, Colin Ingram, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers (wk), Wayne Parnell, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Makhaya Ntini

Amit Masram

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