1st T20I, India vs South Africa Stats Preview: Players records and approaching milestones

After an entertaining two-month action of the Indian Premier League (IPL), international cricket is back for India and South Africa as both the teams are set to participate in a five-match T20I series beginning on June 09, 2022, in Delhi. KL Rahul, who was supposed to lead India in all the T20Is, got ruled out of the entire series on the eve of the first game due to injury. Wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant will now skipper the side in his absence.

Pant will make his captaincy debut for India and will take the field without the star duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom are already missing the series. The Indian team has included some of the in-form players from the IPL namely Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, and Umran Malik. All the four were in supreme touch in the cash-rich league with Hardik being the standout performer for his dual role of captaincy and batsmanship. He led his Gujarat Titans (GT) side to title triumph in their very first season itself.

Now with Rahul out of the series, Ruturaj Gaikwad is expected to open alongside Ishan Kishan. The Proteas named a full-strength squad for the T20Is as they look to provide tougher competition than the previous visitors to India. The Men in Blue thumped West Indies and Sri Lanka by a margin of 3-0 each in February this year. For them, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, and Kagiso Rabada performed exceedingly well in the IPL as they look to carry their form for the national side now.

India has never won a T20I series against South Africa at home with the previous two series ending in 2-0 (3) and 1-1 (3) in 2015 and 2019 respectively. With the T20 World Cup just a few months away, both sides will look to get their balance and team combinations right and start preparing for the mega event.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers ahead of the 1^st T20I between India and South Africa:

Head-to-Head: India and South Africa have met each other in 15 T20Is with India winning on nine occasions and South Africa on six. In India, both have clashed against each other in four matches with the hosts winning just one and losing three.

3 – Rishabh Pant (97) needs three sixes to reach 100 maximums across formats.

1 – Kagiso Rabada (49) is one scalp away from completing 50 wickets in the T20Is.

1 – Quinton de Kock (49) is one grab away from reaching 50 catches as a wicketkeeper in the T20Is.

5 – Hardik Pandya (195) requires five fours to complete 200 fours in international cricket.

1 – India (12) needs just one victory to surpass Afghanistan and Romania both (12) and create the world record for most consecutive wins (13) in the T20Is.

5 – Aiden Markram (45) is five fours away from reaching 50 fours in T20 internationals.

51 – Henrich Klaasen (449) needs 51 runs to get to 500 runs in the T20Is.

1 – India (40) also needs just one win to equal New Zealand’s record of most T20I wins (41) at home.

67 – Rassie van der Dussen (933) requires 67 runs to get to 1000 T20I runs.

1 – Dwaine Pretorius (49) is one game away from appearing in 50 international matches.

40 – Markram (3460) requires 40 runs to get to 3500 runs across formats.

2 – Hardik (98) is two big hits away from reaching the landmark of 100 maximums in international cricket.

3 – Axar Patel (97) is three scalps away from completing the milestone of 100 wickets across formats.