India and South Africa will clash in a three match T20 series, starting 15th September in Dharamshala to begin their quest of preparation for 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia. India is coming from a back of 3-0 clean sweep win over West Indies and will be eager to continue the good show in the upcoming series, while South Africa have not played any series after World Cup exit from group stage.
However, the first T20 between two sides is in jeopardy as rain is expected to play the spoiler. According to Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of heavy rains in Dharamshala on 15 September.
Following the meteorological department’s warning, the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) ground staff may have to work hard to organize the match. At the same time, it is said for Dharamshala that once the rains start there, it continues for a longer period of time which is not a great news for cricket fans.
The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association has started preparations amid fears of bad weather. The ground staff is also making preparations here with its equipment, but everything will depend on the weather on September 15.
The cold weather in the beautiful hill station of Dharamshala will assist the fast bowlers and with the likes of Navdeep Saini and Deepak Chahar, it may be a tough task for the Proteas batsman to fire all guns blazing.
For the second T20, the action will shift to Mohali in Punjab and the 3rd T20 will be played down south in Bengaluru on 22nd September.
Indian squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini.
South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Junior Dala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Jon-Jon Smuts.
