🏏South Africa vs India, 1st T20I:Venue: Kingsmead, Durban 🏏

🏏South Africa vs India, 1st T20I:Venue: Kingsmead, Durban 🏏

Can teams move past the blow of failing to win an ODI World Cup with success in mere T20Is? India's men's side have offered an answer to that question by claiming four victories in the five T20Is they played against Australia in the past not quite three weeks.

That followed the Australians finding a way to humble hitherto unbeaten India in the ODI World final in Ahmedabad on November 19. South Africa, who lost their semifinal against the Aussies at Eden Gardens three days earlier and haven't played since, will start rebuilding on Sunday when Kingsmead hosts the first of three T20Is against India.

If this seems an abjectly modest way to reenter the fray, remember that both teams have only six T20Is to sort themselves out before another World Cup - the T20I version—looms in the Caribbean in June.

If that seems like a stretch of credulity across time, space and formats, consider that several members of South Africa's XI for the semifinal and of India's selection for the final are in the current squads.

One of the South Africans is Gerald Coetzee, who sent down eight overs unchanged at the cost of 32 runs and was rewarded with the wickets of Steven Smith and Josh Inglis. At the end, his energy spent - even 23-year-olds aren't immune to exhaustion—and his body cramped, he melted into a puddle of tears and sweat in David Miller's brotherly embrace.

How had Coetzee bounced back from bowling his heart out and his lungs in his preparation for the coming series?

All teams are on the recovery path from the overly exerted World Cup, except Australia, who are still in euphoria for their WC victory.

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Had the Indians dealt with the shock of losing a game everyone, including millions of their compatriots, thought they would win? "It was a disappointment that will be difficult to move on from, but the show must go on," Suryakumar Yadav said.

"We had a nice T20I series against Australia. It was a different format, but we really enjoyed it and it was a big boost for the boys who came in and won that series for us."

Still, a cruelty lingers around this scenario, as it does around Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj - the other players in the T20I squads who featured in their teams' last matches at the World Cup.

As much as it might appear otherwise, high-calibre cricketers are as human as the rest of us. How, exactly, do you lift yourself from the floor so soon after being flattened while a global audience looked on? Perhaps we should be quietly grateful and relieved that, unlike big-name cricketers, we usually have the privilege of enduring our failures in private.

Now , it is a new series, a new place, and a new team with great aspirations. Let's hope for the best.

Originally posted by: MochaQueen

What about IPl auction Madz?

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Auction is set to be hosted at Dubai's Coca-Cola Arena on December 19, 2023 (Tuesday).

If our friends want to follow, we'll post a thread.

Thanks for the tag 💙💚

Thank you for the tag Madhuri

Best wishes to Team India

Pitch report

India vs South Africa pitch report

The Kingsmead stadium pitch is known for helping bowlers, particularly seamers who get extra movement from the moist track. Spinners usually struggle here. However, batters can score a lot of runs once they get used to the pitch. The team winning the toss will probably bat first to try and set a big score.

What to expect: A slowish but fair surface, which could be enlivened by the 15 millimetres of rain that has been forecast for a stormy morning. Anticipate, also, a farewell for Wilson Ngobese, who joined Kingsmead's groundstaff in 1975 and has been the head curator since 1999. This will be Ngobese's last international pitch.

Right now I like SA team the most after India team in the world

Team news:

South Africa:

Lungi Ngidi's withdrawal with a sprained ankle on Friday further erodes the experience in a fast bowling department that is already without the rested Kagiso Rabada and the injured Anrich Nortje. The batting lineup is without Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen.

Possible XI: Reeza Hendricks, Matthew Breetzke, Tristan Stubbs, Aiden Markram (capt), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Nandre Burger, Tabraiz Shamsi

India:

This game - and the series - sees the return of some of India's regulars who took a break during the T20Is against Australia that came right after the ODI World Cup. Axar Patel, who played against Australia, isn't part of the T20I squad now, making way for Ravindra Jadeja's straightforward return.

Possible XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh

What they said:

"You'd like to know them on a deeper level before going into the series with them. We've had a few good days together trying to get to know them and understanding what makes them tick. The nature of cricket is that series come thick and fast and there'll be times when new guys are in and they are going to have to find their feet quickly, and we are going to do our best to help them settle down and be as relaxed as they can be in the environment. It's a tricky one but the group we have here is a great bunch of guys." - Aiden Markram on captaining the relative strangers in his team.

"The guys I'm watching in T20 cricket right now are very expressive. They don't have a lot of fear of failure. Whatever happens - if they do well or if they don't get runs on that given day - their attitude remains the same on and off the field. That balance is really important when you play this sport." - Suryakumar Yadav on the irresistible impetuousness of T20's younger players.