India vs South Africa 2019, last 2 T20Is: three Indian players to keep an eye on

The first match of the eagerly-awaited T20I series (which consists of three matches) between India and South Africa was washed out on Sunday. Dharamshala was hit by torrential rain and the non-result was inevitable.

It was a big disappointment, but now the focus turns to the second T20I at Mohali, which will be played on Wednesday. The last two matches can potentially be engrossing battles pitting two very talented teams against each other. Both India and South Africa have match-winners in their teams.

On that note, let’s look at three Indian players to keep an eye on in the rest of the series.

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#3 Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja batting in the World Cup semi-final.

Few players deserve the ‘all-rounder’ tag as much as Ravindra Jadeja. The 30-year-old can play solely as a front-line bowler. He is extremely economical and can snare valuable wickets.

He is a more-than capable batsman, as his first-class average of 46.52 suggests. He has ten first-class centuries to his name – quite an impressive feat for a number seven or eight batsman.

Jadeja is also an asset in the field and can potentially save 10-plus runs in a match. On a handful of occasions everything has gone right for the Chennai Super Kings player. One such example was the recent World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.

In the first innings of the clash, Jadeja took the key wicket of Henry Nicholls (28 runs), just when the latter had looked set for a big score. He then took a stunning catch and also engendered a run-out.

In the second innings, chasing 240, India crashed to 92-6 and was in big trouble. Enter Jadeja. The left-hander scored a heroic 77 off 59 balls but, despite a nail-biting finish, it was not enough to secure a win.

This performance gave him a new level of confidence. Jadeja, who had been in and out of the side for a few years, will be determined to make the most of it against South Africa.

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#2 Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer.

Let us move down the batting order.

Shreyas Iyer is one of the most talented players in the Indian team. His ODI record (an average of 49.42, with four half-centuries in seven innings) certainly suggests rich promise.

Despite this, the 24-year-old was on fringes of the side for several years and never received a proper chance. But he has, after the recent tour of West Indies, Iyer has now cemented his place in the team.

During the second ODI at Port of Spain, Iyer batted smartly and scored 71 runs. He combined with Virat Kohli for a substantial partnership of 125 runs and paced his innings perfectly. His knock helped India post a total of 279-7, which was enough to secure a 59-run victory (via DLS method)

Iyer combined with skipper Virat for a match-winning century partnership in West Indies.

Iyer’s innings was decorated with sumptuous front-foot drives and audacious upper-cuts. One can expect similar innings’ against South Africa.

The right-hander is definitely a player to keep an eye on in the last two T20Is.

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma.

Batting looks ridiculously easy when Rohit Sharma is at the crease. He makes it look 2/10 on the difficulty scale when, in reality, it is 8 or 9.

A typical Sharma innings usually includes elegant cut and pull shots (he’s a strong short-ball player).

But in recent times the 32-year-old has shown he can keep the lid on his aggressive batting and concentrate to play a fighting innings. A good example is the World Cup 2019 group match versus South Africa.

South Africa batted first in the contest and scored 227-9 in their allotted 50 overs. Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan opened India’s reply and were forced to weather a hostile bowling spell from Kagiso Rabada. Dhawan was dismissed early, but Sharma motored on and even smashed the speedster for some sixes.

He was unbeaten on 122 at the end (India won by six wickets). Sharma will be very confident in the last two T20Is against the same opponents (after his recent success against them). If the visitors decide to pepper him with short balls, there may be carnage at Mohali and Bengaluru.