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South Africa tour of India 2022
Twenty20 International Format
1st T20
India v South Africa
Arun Jaitley Stadium
New Delhi, India
Thursday, 9 June 2022
India will go in search of their first-ever
T20 series win against South Africa on home soil, starting with the first match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday, June 9.
The Blues are undefeated in six T20s this year, having recorded clean sweeps against tourists Sri Lanka and the West Indies in February.
But they have yet to best the Proteas in a series on the subcontinent, the last of which was tied 1-1 in 2019/20 while SA won 2-0 in 2015/16.
South Africa managed to level the series three years ago after they won the third T20 by nine wickets. Kagiso Rabada starred with the ball, taking 4/39 as India were restricted to 134/9.
The touring party posted 140 for the loss of just one wicket, with Quinton de Kock leading them to victory in Bengaluru with an unbeaten 79 runs.
Arshdeep Singh received his maiden call-up to the national team for the five-match series, with Jasprit Bumrah being rested ahead of the World Cup, which starts in October.
The left-arm seamer was rewarded for his fine performances in the IPL this season, where he bowled the joint-most yorkers alongside Bumrah and has gained a reputation for excelling in the death overs.
Speaking about his consistency with the ball, Singh told ESPNCricinfo: "I did a lot of single-wicket practice. Lots of repetitions of length ball and yorker. After doing it so many times in practice, you start understanding where your ball will land if you run at this particular speed with this particular angle.
"Repetitions make a lot of difference, because your control improves tremendously and you start getting the confidence that you can bowl it in the match as well.
"You practise with a normal ball, or with a slightly wet ball if there's a chance of dew in the game. Sometimes you bowl to a batsman, sometimes you do single-wicket practice.
"Sometimes you can place boots or some other target to aim at. You can even challenge other bowlers in the nets to see who can hit the target the most times. That adds a fun element."
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Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma revealed they will be using the series to iron out their batting, particularly at the top of the order.
"That's (batting) a thing we'd like to solidify. More specifically at the top," Bavuma said. "If you look at our bowling there is a bit more solidity and clarity.
"With these games we'll be trying to find those combinations, or particularly for those who partner up with Quinton [De Kock] upfront.
"One, two or number three position are probably where we'd like to get a lot more clarity. But I think everything else will kind of continue as is.
"Our middle order is our middle order, we've got a nice set of all-rounders - it's more particularly at the top."
Head-to-Head (T20)
Matches - 15
India - 9
South Africa - 6
Draws - 0
No result: 0
T20 World Rankings
1 - India
4 - South Africa
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