The Protea batter missed out along with two of his teammates.
After being 1-0 down in the five-match series, the South Africans would have to find ways to come back into the game. However, they have chosen to excluded middle-order batter Tristan Stubbs from their playing XI ahead of the 2nd T20I against India in New Chandigarh. Stubbs, who is a regular in the side, misses out along with two of his teammates.
The Proteas were unable to chase down a competitive total set by India in the first T20I. Despite starting off on a brilliant note in the first innings, India all-rounder Hardik Pandya took the game away from the visitors with a sumptuous knock, announcing his comeback to competitive cricket. That being said, Tristan Stubbs, who was sent at No.3, managed to score just 14 runs off 9 deliveries.
The Proteas have many questions to answer ahead of the coveted T20 World Cup in 2026. Since losing the Final of the T20 World Cup in 2024 to the same opposition, the Proteas have not been able to maintain their standards in the shortest format of the game. They have lost 19 out of the 26 matches since the loss in the Final.
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Stats suggest that the 25-year-old has scored most of his runs at No.4 in the shortest format of the game. That would make him the first choice for the role, considering the fast-paced nature of the format. However, there is a dimension to his game which makes him a contender at No.3.
The youngster has already made it to all the three formats for South Africa and has quickly become a mainstay. The fact that will separate him from the rest would be his ability to play the waiting game, and also know when to put the foot on the accelerator.
The South Africans will need to find a way to bounce back n T20s, with a mega-event on the horizon. With the tournament being in India, they would aim to use this five-match T20I series as a preparation for the same.
India Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
South Africa Playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (capt), Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Marco Jansen, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman
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