India vs South Africa 2022: From Kagiso Rabada to David Miller, five Proteas players to watch out for in T20Is – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

International cricket is back in India following the conclusion of IPL 2022 late in May. For South Africa, their tuneup towards the crucial T20 World Cup 2022 will begin with a five-match T20I series against India, starting with the first match on Thursday.

Unlike India, South Africa have named a strong squad that will play the hosts despite the IPL concluding last week. David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock and others were part of the IPL and now they will gear up to don the Proteas green yet again. Let’s take a look at five South Africa players to watch out in the T20Is vs India.

David Miller

‘Killer Miller’ as he is often called, was at his destructive best while at Gujarat Titans in the recently-concluded IPL 2022. Miller played a pivotal role in GT’s title-winning campaign, scoring 481 runs from 16 matches at a strike-rate of 142.73.

One of the major highlights in Miller’s IPL 2022 season was when GT needed 16 from the last over against RR in Qualifier 1. Miller hit Prasidh Krishna for three consecutive sixes to finish his innings unbeaten at 68.

Earlier in the season, in a match where GT missed skipper Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan captained the side, Miller stepped up for the team when it mattered the most, amassing an unbeaten 94 off 51 balls, that even included a 70-run stand with Rashid Khan (40).

GT were chasing a target of 170 in that match, and it almost went down to the wire, but Miller sealed the deal with a couple of runs off the penultimate ball to seal the match.

A fantastic season with the bat has also seen Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma open up on the possibility of promoting Miller’s batting position.

“In terms of him batting a bit longer, that has always been the conversation over the years when David has done well. He understands where he fits in within the team. If he feels he can add more value in a different position, a conversation can be had in that regard,” Bavuma had said at the pre-departure press conference.

Kagiso Rabada

Despite PBKS’ disappointing season yet again as they failed to reach the IPL playoffs, Kagiso Rabada’s performance was a silver-lining for them.

Rabada finished the IPL with 23 wickets from 13 matches, and moreover, he has been in India for quite a while now, so he might as well be acclimatised with the conditions.

As always, Rabada will be pivotal in the death overs, and that is likely around the time when and if Dinesh Karthik comes into play.

Rabada’s main focus though will be to rattle the Indian batting and put some momentum in Proteas’ favour.

Wayne Parnell

South Africa’s Wayne Parnell has returned to the T20I side after five years. Parnell last played a T20I against England in June 2017, and in 2018, along with some of his teammates, he shifted to county cricket via the Kolpak system. He eventually continued playing T20 Leagues across the world, but following UK’s exit from the European Union, the Kolpak system was abolished.

Parnell eventually became the first ex-Kolpak player to be selected by the Proteas when they faced Netherlands in an ODI series last year, but that series was later called off due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in South Africa. Parnell had bowled the first over where he conceded five runs.

Parnell was part of the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh and while he did collect the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim, he walked off after bowling 2.5 overs due to a left leg injury.

Parnell, though, will look to make the opportunity count and hope to remain in the reckoning for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

Quinton de Kock

Quinton de Kock capped off a good season in the IPL. He was acquired by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the IPL 2022 player auction, and he proved his worth by amassing 508 runs from 15 matches at a strike-rate of 148.97. That included one century and three fifties.

De Kock even notched up the highest individual score in the IPL, amassing a 70-ball 140 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) while adding 210 for the first wicket with KL Rahul.

Having retired as a Test cricketer and shifting focus to white-ball cricket, it will give de Kock much more freedom to play, and the last two months in India would have been of help for de Kock.

Tabraiz Shamsi

Tabraiz Shamsi might have missed out on IPL this season, but he will be raring to go in the T20Is against India.

Last year alone, Shamsi picked up 36 wickets in the calendar year of 2021. What makes Shamsi effective is his wrist spin on turning wickets.

In the 2021-22 CSA T20 Challenge season, Shamsi ended up as the top wicket-taker, with 13 scalps from nine matches.