Pitch: “It was hot yesterday at practice, man. It was really hot,” was India coach Rahul Dravid’s first reaction to being asked about the conditions during his pre-match press conference. “We’re lucky the game is in the evening. Lucky, yes, because a maximum of 36 degrees Celsius is forecast for Sunday. But maybe not so lucky, since rain is also expected – with a greater likelihood after 7 pm.
The last T20I at this venue, in 2020, was rained off without a ball bowled, and the one before that – the first at this stadium – was both low-scoring and one-sided, Australia romping home with 27 balls remaining after bowling India out for 118.
Dravid suggested the pitch for Sunday’s game “looks a good wicket”, while Wayne Parnell, the South Africa allrounder, hadn’t had the chance to have a close look before his press conference. “This wicket, from what I’ve seen from the dressing room, looks about 22 yards,” he said with the straightest of faces. “It looks slightly brown as well, from what I could see.”
India vs South Africa 2nd T20I Highlights today, Sunday 2-10-2022. 2nd T20I (D/N), Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, South Africa tour of India 2022.
SA won the toss, India will bat first.
Rohit Sharma: “We would have fielded as well. There’s a lot of humidity which is common in this part of the world. It’ll be a challenge for us to get the reward tonight, given we’ve never beaten South Africa in T20Is at home. But we have prepared well for today. Not too sure about the pitch and conditions, the track was sticky. So we have to be a little cautious at the start and assess what to do thereon. We’re playing the same team
Temba Bavuma: It’s a new day, we want to strike early and have a good total to chase down. It looks like a friendlier pitch for the batters. In the last game, Parnell and Maharaj showed a good fight along with the bowlers which was a positive. Ngidi comes in for Shamsi
India team: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 R Ashwin 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Arshdeep Singh
South Africa team: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Temba Bavuma (capt), 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 David Miller, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Lungi Ngidi
Head to Head In T20I’s: 21
India Won: 12
South Africa Won: 8
India T20I Rankings: 1st
South Africa T20I Rankings: 3rd
Form guide
(last five completed Tests, most recent first)
India WWWLW
South Africa LWWWW
Match Timings: 1:30 PM GMT | 7:00 PM Local
Umpires – Anil Chaudhary, Virender Sharma
TV Umpire – Jayaraman Madanagopal
Match Referee – Javagal Srinath
Reserve Umpire – Rohan Pandit
Match number – T20I no. 1803
