South Africa squad for T20 World Cup 2021

There is a bit going on within the South African cricket system and for the first team in many years, they are not one of the favorites leading into an ICC event. In some corners, they have themselves to blame having not picked up players like Chris Morris, Imran Tahir and former skipper Faf du Plessis. However, the players who have been named are not bad either. 

Captain Temba Bavuma since getting the job has gone on to win the T20I series in the West Indies and Ireland. Despite missing the Sri Lanka T20I series, he will be back to open the innings with Quinton de Kock. The southpaw’s form has been exceptional this year and Proteas would expect him to continue with that. Heinrich Klaasen has also been named as a backup keeper. 

Coming back to the batting talents, South Africa has Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram. All of these players have some runs under their belt, while Markram has some wickets on his back as well. Apart from him, players who can improve the balance of this squad are Dwaine Pretorius and Wiaan Mulder. 

South Africa will hope Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje replicate IPL UAE success

With that, we can get into the South African bowling department. The fact that they don’t have many multi-dimensional players has been compensated with six bowling options. In the spin department, they have the world’s No. 1 T20I bowler, Tabraiz Shamsi along with Keshav Maharaj, who has had quite a wonderful start to his T20I career. Bjorn Fortuin is another spin-bowling option, who has been consistent with his line and adds a bit more depth in this attack. 

After this, they have three frontline pacers in Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi. It is expected that Rabada will pair with Nortje to form a formidable pace-bowling combination as they have done for Delhi Capitals in the IPL’s UAE editions in 2020 and 2021. Apart from that, Proteas also have some quality in their reserves, having named George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo and Lizaad Williams. 

South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock (wk), Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, W Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen 

Reserves: George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lizaad Williams