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With the 2022 chapter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) closed, the focus has now shifted toward India's international assignments. First in line is the home series against South Africa starting from June 09. While it was KL Rahul who was named as the captain of the team in the absence of senior players including captain Rohit Sharma, on the eve of the series opener, Rahul has been ruled out of the series with a groin injury.
That blow to Team India means Rishabh Pant will now lead India at his home ground the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Other than Rahul's injury, it is Kuldeep Yadav who has been ruled out of the series but there will be no replacements for them as already an 18-member squad was announced for the bilateral competition.
Ahead of India's first international match after IPL 2022, here is a stat-based prediction of which way the match could go and who has their noses ahead before the first ball is bowled.
1. Toss Prediction
In their last 5 T20Is, India have only won 1 toss which makes South Africa the team with a better chance to win the toss.
2. Win Probability
The Win probability is tilted towards the home team. In the overall head-to-head record, the two teams have met each other 15 times with the Men in Blue winning 9 of them. The remaining six matches South Africa have won. With a higher win percentage as well as the advantage of playing in home conditions and being used to the heat of this part of the world, India are ahead at this moment.
3. Team of the Day
The Team of the Day is India. Despite losing out on KL Rahul, they have several youngsters in their squad who would be eager to do well and make a mark in Indian colours.
4. Powerplay score
43.16 has been the average powerplay score at this venue in T20Is. Both teams have great top-order batters though and have batters in their ranks that can make use of the fielding restrictions. So India and South Africa should be able to score over 40 runs in the powerplay.
5. Average score
The average first innings score at this venue in the 6 T20Is that have been played here is 156. This suggests that a score of over 160 could be a tricky one on this surface. 200 has been breached just once while three scores of over 150 have been recorded.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the author’s point of view. They neither reflect the opinion of SportsTiger nor advise anyone to make any prediction based on this. SportsTiger does not assume any responsibility and liability for the same.