Rishabh Pant's baptism by fire, return of familiar faces - 3 reasons why we're excited for the IND vs SA 2022 T20I series

Just over a week after the glitz, glamour and fanfare of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season, the focus now shifts to the deep blue of the Indian cricket team jersey as a young brigade under the exuberant leadership of Rishabh Pant take on South Africa with the first T20I slated for June 9th in Delhi.

Opting to rest big names such as regular skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah among others after a tough IPL, the BCCI named an 18-man squad ahead of the series. However, injuries to KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav has trimmed the squad down to 16 men, with Pant set to don the skipper's role in his first full series as the Indian cricket team captain.

The squad will play host to an array of exciting names such as Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh and also the return of keeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, whose exploits with the bat for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022 made it impossible for the selectors to overlook his spot in the side.

Although India's squad for the SA series does miss a few big names, there's a lot of excitement in the air for what's to come, given that this is also a crucial bilateral series before the T20 World Cup 2022 in October.

From the possible blueprint of Pant's methods as captain to the return of familiar faces to the squad, here are three reasons why we're excited for the IND vs SA 2022 T20I series.

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1. Rishabh Pant's baptism by fire

Rishabh Pant will need to balance captaincy and batting - this time for India

We've seen a lot from Pant, be it his atrociously good backflips or the swing of his blade that sends the ball miles into the stands. He's also captained an IPL team for two seasons, and almost took the Delhi Capitals into the IPL 2022 playoffs, only for them to settle for 5th spot.

Pant's character is one that is laced with a sense of perennial surprise, but here's something new that no cricket fan has seen yet. Pant will captain the Indian cricket team against South Africa, and in his first match as captain, he will walk out to a cauldron of noise as over 25,000 people cheer for their hometown hero.

India's head coach Rahul Dravid has seldom minced words about Pant's ability with the bat, often throwing his weight behind giving the youngster freedom and at times even asking the southpaw to be sensible in his choices.

On June 9th, Pant faces probably his toughest challenge so far - captain the country with billions of eyes on him, entertain with the bat and also, well, just his regular day job of keeping the wickets. Quite a challenge for a man who's just 24 eh?

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2. Hardik Pandya is back, and so is Dinesh Karthik!

Dinesh Karthik's finishing prowess could be quite a handful for the SA bowlers to handle

Prior to the IPL, one of the biggest talking points was Hardik Pandya's spot in the side as a pure batter, and if the Baroda star would even fit into the scheme of things. Cut to a few months later, everyone's penned down Hardik Pandya in their starting XI, purely owing to his blistering showing in IPL 2022, where he led from the front with his all-round prowess.

While Pandya's captaincy will take the backseat in this IND vs SA 2022 series, his inputs to a young skipper in Pant could well be vital, in addition to how the latter goes about cementing his spot in India's XI as the all-rounder he once was.

As far as 'once was' goes, DK's return is a story in itself which could take time to be on display at the international scene, for in all certainty, Karthik will only be the backup keeper to Pant. Yet, here's DK 2.0, a man who's himself admitted that he's probably in the best mental space, a luxurious trait that is sporadic in the times of the current pandemic.

Karthik's last T20I was back in February 2019 against Australia, and a return to Indian colours three years later - in the form of his life - that's a tale that could well be more than just a delight to an Indian cricket fan.

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3. Indian cricket team's bench strength will be put to test, again

The IPL has consistently done a lot for Indian cricket, and it continues to do so, with franchises unearthing many diamonds from the rough with each passing season. This edition of the IPL played along a similar template, but with notable differences.

A couple of retained players blew hot and cold, while youngsters hyped up for the future put on a spectacle. In the case of the former, names such as Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Venkatesh Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi and Bhuvneshwar Kumar rarely lived up to their billing.

As for the latter, young pacers Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh earned themselves good names with some commanding performances. With all of these stars called up to be a part of the squad for the SA series, there's a case of each individual needing to come good and stake their spot in the Indian cricket team for a long time to come.

The IPL is indeed a platform where these talents have displayed their skills, but when it comes to the real deal of representing the country, it's a whole different ball game.

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16 among some of the best Indian cricketers that have played in recent years, five T20Is against a strong South African side, now that's going to be quite some fun!