Indian cricket team’s first T20I against South Africa on Thursday presents a massive opportunity for the side to set a new world record. India are currently tied with Afghanistan and Romania for the longest T20I winning streak of 12 matches. India’s winning run started in the 2021 T20 World Cup where they beat Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia in successive matches. Then, under Rohit Sharma, India clinched three consecutive series against New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka – all with 3-0 margin. Now, if India can defeat South Africa in the first T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, it will be the side’s 13th win on the trot – a new world record.
However, Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid said that the team is not paying any attention to records and numbers.
“Honestly, we have not thought about the record. We are not really paying attention to the record. It is nice to win games. But for me, a lot of this is about not worrying about creating records or numbers. We want to win every game we play. We want to prepare and practice well and get to the field with our tactics right and try executing them. If it happens, it is great,” Dravid said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“We are up against a strong South African side and that is what makes it exciting for me. It is going to give us a good test. It will give a lot of our youngsters that did not get a chance earlier, a chance to test themselves against a really good side. That is the exciting part for us. If we win, we win. But if we do not, we learn, move to the next game and continue.”
Ahead of the first T20I of the five-match series against South Africa, Team India started practising on Monday. As Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been rested from the series, Team India will be led by KL Rahul along with Rishabh Pant as the vice-captain. After delivering great performances in IPL 2022, pacers Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik got their maiden Team India call-up for the series.
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India’s squad: KL Rahul (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain)(WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik.
South Africa’s squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen.
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