IND vs SA: 1st T20 - Predicted India Playing XI vs South Africa

4. Hardik Pandya

Making his way back into the Indian squad is all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who impressed everyone during the IPL 2022 with his captaincy skills, batting, and bowling abilities, as he led Gujarat Titans to a title win in their maiden IPL outing.

He slammed 487 runs in 15 games at the tournament and also added eight wickets under his belt. He was out of action due to an injury but returned at the IPL as the all-rounder that a team looks out for. His impressive performances earned him a place back in the national squad and it will be interesting to see, what he holds in the bag.

5. Rishabh Pant (Captain and wicketkeeper)

Rishabh Pant has been playing a lot of cricket in recent times. He was a part of almost all the India games, along with the IPL 2022. He has been very impressive over the past few years and has emerged as India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter. With KL Rahul’s injury at the end moment, he is all set to lead India in the T20Is. He played some fine knocks at the IPL this season but blew hot and cold throughout the tournament.

Pant struck 340 runs in 13 innings, averaging 30.91. He could not score a single half-century this time and was dismissed in the 40s quite a few times. He was pretty impressive in the T20I series against West Indies, which India played in February.  The dasher even scored an unbeaten half-century in the second game of the series.