ABOUT THE MATCH
India will be looking to get back to winning ways when they host South Africa in a five-game WT20i series in Surat, which starts with this first match at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium on September 24.
India has lost their last two WT20i series 3-0, to New Zealand and England, though they finished as World Cup semi-finalists before that. They have a good record against South Africa, having beaten them 3-1 last time they played each other in a bilateral WT20i series.
South Africa has been the opposite to India since the World Cup where they finished third in Group A winning series against both Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Both of those series were on home soil, however, albeit they showed good form in their warm-up match for this clash.
TOSS PREDICTION
India will want to waste no time getting back to winning ways. The tendency is to field first in these games and that could be exactly what Harmanpreet Kaur elects to do if she does win the toss.
PITCH AND CONDITIONS
There are scattered thunderstorms earlier in the day forecast for Surat, though they should have cleared by the evening. Even if there is a delayed start, there should still be enough of a gap in the weather for a full game.
This is the first international ever to be played at the ground. In the warm-up matches, both sides’ spinners took wickets but it looked a balanced pitch with runs to be had too.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF India Women
Harleen Deol, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Shikha Pandey
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF South Africa Women
Lizelle Lee (wk), Tazmin Brits, Laura Wolvaardt, Nadine de Klerk, Mignon du Preez, Sune Luus (c), Lara Goodall, Shabnim Ismail, Nondumiso Shangase, Ayabonga Khaka, Anne Bosch
MATCH PREVIEW
India Women
- Mithali Raj’s decision to retire from T20i cricket has eased one selection issue for India, who have included Shafali Verma in the squad for the first time.
- The big-hitting batsmen could be given time to impress before next year’s World T20.
- Since the World Cup, when they reached the semi-finals, India has played two WT20i series but lost 3-0 in each.
- They were first whitewashed by New Zealand and then suffered the same fate when they played England too.
- Their batting fell short in the latter, with scores of 119/6, 111/8 and 118/6 proving too low. The latter was a one-run defeat in Guwahati.
South Africa Women
- Sune Luus will captain South Africa in India after Dane van Niekerk got injured again. Ayabonga Khaka is back in action.
- Marizanne Kapp is unavailable for the WT20i leg of this tour, but Nonkululeko Mlaba could make her Proteas’ debut.
- South Africa have won both bilateral WT20i series they have played since the World T20.
- Most recently, they came from 2-1 down to beat Pakistan 3-2, Lizelle Lee hit 60 from 31 balls as they chased 174 to win the fourth game by four wickets and level the series, before a strong bowling performance and more Lee fireworks saw them win the decider by nine wickets.
PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:
India is looking to get back to winning ways but, with batsmen such as Kaur, Rodrigues, and Mandhani, they are well equipped to do just that facing a South Africa team they boast a good record against.
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