3 player battles to watch out for in SA vs IND T20I series 2024 ft. David Miller vs Arshdeep Singh
India will take on South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban in the first T20I of the four-match series. The two teams met in the 2024 T20 World Cup final on June 29 in Barbados earlier this year, with the Men in Blue registering victory by seven runs. A lot has changed since then, though.
With Rohit Sharma having retired from the format, Suryakumar Yadav has taken over as India's full-time captain in T20Is. Under him, India beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in an away series and blanked Bangladesh by the same margin at home. The Men in Blue and the Proteas met in South Africa last year in December. The three-match series ended in a 1-1 draw, with one game being abandoned.
If we look at the head-to-head numbers between India and South Africa in T20Is, the Men in Blue have a 15-11 lead. As the two sides prepare for their latest tussle, we look at three player battles to watch out for in the four-match T20I series.
#1 Suryakumar Yadav vs Gerald Coetzee
Team India skipper Suryakumar has an excellent record against South Africa in T20Is. In seven innings, he has smashed 346 runs at an average of 57.66 and a strike rate of 175.63, with one hundred and four fifties.
The 34-year-old was out for three in the T20 World Cup final. However, in the three innings before that against the Proteas he scored 68 off 40 in Perth, 56 off 36 in Gqeberha and a blazing 100 off 56 in Johannesburg.
If we take a look at his recent form, the Indian captain smacked 58 off 26 in the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Pallekele and 75 off 35 in the third T20I against Bangladesh in Hyderabad. In between, he chipped in with a couple of 20s. The swashbuckling batter would look to continue his great form.
In Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje's absence, Gerald Coetzee will be expected to lead South Africa's bowling attack. The right-arm pacer was Suryakumar's teammate at Mumbai Indians (MI) earlier this year and did a decent job, picking up 13 wickets from 10 matches.
The 24-year-old is known as a spirited cricketer, who impressed many with his attitude during the ODI World Cup in India last year. While he has played only six T20Is for South Africa, he has an overall experience of 60 T20s, in which he has picked up 82 scalps at an average of 20.71 and an economy rate of 8.45.
#2 Heinrich Klaasen vs Varun Chakaravarthy
Heinrich Klaasen almost lifted South Africa to victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup final. He smacked 52 off 27, with the aid of two fours and five sixes, taking apart left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Had Klaasen stayed on for a bit longer, he could have put India under greater pressure in the final.
The fact that the Proteas batter has been retained for ₹23 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction (Virat Kohli has been retained for ₹21 crore by RCB) proves how highly he is rated in the T20 format. The 33-year-old enjoys batting against India, so he would be up for the challenge.
Klaasen is a brilliant player of spin, arguably South Africa's best over the last few years. Team India could look to stop the batter by pitting him against canny leg-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy. The latter has made an impressive return to the Indian team. He picked up five wickets in the T20I series against Bangladesh at an average of 14.60 and an economy rate of 6.08.
#3 David Miller vs Arshdeep Singh
In the death overs, David Miller and Arshdeep Singh could be involved in an interesting tussle. The South African batter can be extremely destructive at the end, especially if he has got his eye in. The left-hander has played a number of crucial knocks for the Proteas, rescuing them from some tough situations.
On the other hand, Arshdeep can go for a few runs at the death, but also has the knack of picking up crucial wickets. The battle between the left-arm seamer and the big-hitting Miller is a highly entertaining prospect. It would be rather interesting to see who comes out on top in case the two cross paths in Durban.