The last T20 International of the 5-match series against India and South Africa is to be played on 19 June 2022 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Both Team India and Rishabh Pant have a chance to create history by winning the fifth T20 International match. If Team India wins this match then it will create a world record. They will become the first team in the world to win the series 3-2 after going 0-2 down. At the same time, Rishabh Pant will become the first Indian captain to win Team India’s first T20 series against South Africa at home.
This is the third T20 International bilateral series against South Africa at Team India’s home ground. South Africa had won one of the two previous series, while one was a draw. The way Team India has leveled the series after going 0-2 down, Rishabh Pant will also be eyeing to create history.
India’s record at home in bilateral T20 Internationals is quite impressive. Team India has played 12 T20 series (with more than three matches) at home since 2016. He has won all of these. At the same time, South Africa’s eyes will be on becoming the first team to win two consecutive T20 series at home by winning the last match.
This year has been great for Ishan Kishan in terms of T20 Internationals. He is the highest run-scorer in T20 Internationals this year. He has 367 runs to his name in just 9 innings. Barring Dwayne Pretorius, he has scored runs in front of every bowler at a strike rate of over 150. In this series, he is only behind Dinesh Karthik in terms of hitting the ball per boundary. Dinesh Karthik is taking 3.9 balls to hit a boundary. Ishan Kishan is getting a boundary every 4.3th ball.
From the beginning of 2021 till the last T20 World Cup, India’s bowling in the powerplay was the subject. Till then, Indian bowlers had taken just 14 wickets in 13 innings at an average of 40.1 and a strike rate of 33.4 during the powerplays. Things have changed after the T20 World Cup. India has taken 23 wickets in the powerplay, which is the most in the top ten team. India has the second best bowling average and third best bowling strike rate in this phase.
India have been empty handed in the Powerplay only once after the 2021 T20 World Cup, taking more than two wickets on eight occasions. It shows how impressive the Indian bowlers have been in this phase. No team in the top ten has taken 2 or more wickets in the powerplay more times than India. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been the most successful Indian bowler in this phase. He has taken 8 wickets during this period.