"If South Africa wins the toss, they will win the match 100%" - Aakash Chopra makes his predictions for the 1st India-SA T20I
Aakash Chopra feels South Africa will definitely win the first T20I against Team India if they win the toss.
The first game of the five-match series between India and South Africa will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on June 9. The hosts were already without some of their most prominent players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah and have now been dealt further blows. KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav have been ruled out of the series due to injury.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra picked South Africa as the favorites heading into the first T20I. He elaborated:
"Earlier I was saying India will win this match, but now I am feeling South Africa can win this match. If South Africa wins the toss, they will win the match 100% but if India wins the toss, then also I feel 51-49 in favor of South Africa."
The cricketer-turned-commentator expects Yuzvendra Chahal and Kagiso Rabada to be amongst the wickets. Aakash Chopra reasoned:
"Chahal and Rabada will take three or more wickets. Chahal bowls everywhere now. [Rishabh] Pant is the captain, so he might get him to bowl more towards the death. His numbers are good, whether it is against [David] Miller or Quinton de Kock. Kagiso Rabada - powerplay, death overs - I think he is going to get a couple of wickets."
Both Chahal and Rabada are coming into the T20I series on the back of a successful IPL 2022. While the Indian leg-spinner won the Purple Cap for his 27 wickets, Rabada was the most successful pacer in the tournament, with 23 scalps to his name.
"Hardik and Shreyas will together score more than 65 runs" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra reckons Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer will make decent contributions with the bat for Team India. He predicted:
"Hardik and Shreyas will together score more than 65 runs. Rahul Dravid has said in the press conference that Hardik will play the finisher's role but that doesn't mean that he cannot bat up the order. Send Hardik in whenever a wicket falls after 10 overs. There will be bouncers and Tabraiz Shamsi's leg-spin against Shreyas, he will be troubled a little."
Rahul Dravid said "Hardik Pandya is a fantastic cricketer, both with bat and ball - it's so pleasing to have him back - great for the Indian team that he has started bowling, brings lots of depth into the team flexibility".
The 44-year-old also feels that Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram will deliver the goods with the bat for the visitors. Aakash Chopra explained:
"Quinton de Kock and Markram will together score more than 65 runs. Markram will play spin a little cautiously and hit the pacers. Quinton de Kock is in very good form, knows this ground well, has scored good runs here and plays well against India. There is no bowler in this team other than Chahal who troubles him."
De Kock has scored 137 runs at an excellent strike rate of 147.31 in the three T20Is he has played against the Men In Blue. He has enjoyed even greater success against India in ODI cricket, having amassed 1013 runs at an outstanding average of 63.31.