Bhubaneswar: Opener Shubman Gill and all-rounder Hardik Pandya both are match fit ahead of the first T20I against South Africa to be held at Barabati stadium in Cuttack on Tuesday, said Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav in the pre-match Press Meet on Monday.
Gill had suffered a neck injury during the first Test against South Africa at Kolkata, while Hardik had injured his left quadriceps during the Asia Cup. Their returns will strengthen the team.
Gill is yet to play since his injury, but Hardik made a comeback in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Playing for Baroda. Talking about domestic cricket, Suryakumar expressed “its always important for all the players to take part in the domestic tournaments. Nowadays every Indian cricketer is playing in the domestic circuit on their off days”.
Gill is going to replace Sanju Samson in the opening slot for India, Suryaumar said that “Sanju Samson would have to compete with Jitesh Sharma for a spot in the middle order. He also emphasised that all batters apart from the openers need to be flexible to bat anywhere from No. 3 to 6. Our batters are used to such situation”.
Speaking about the team combination, Suryakumar said “We are having the right set up players combination. This year our T20 teams are performing well, when the team is doing well and achieving its goal, so we do not need to make many experiments now. Before the T20 World Cup, we are going to play ten numbers of T20 matches, which will help us to put forward a befitting Indian team”.
Both the teams spent quality time on their practice seasons on Monday. While team India touched down at Barabati Stadium in the afternoon, the South Africans did their practices under the floodlight.
Ind vs SA T20I Squads:
India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar.
South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Quinton de Kock (wk), Donovan Ferreira (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Ottneil Baartman, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje.
