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While Jason Holder’s inclusion could add balance, their Indian fast-bowling stocks have been depleted by Prasidh Krishna’s injury

Ekanth26-Mar-2023Where Rajasthan Royals finished last seasonRajasthan Royals were runners-up in IPL 2022, finishing second in the league stage and losing the final to Gujarat Titans.Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2023Jos Buttler (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (capt, wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Joe Root, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Singh Rathore, Jason Holder, Akash Vasisht, Abdul Basith, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Adam Zampa, KC Cariappa, M Ashwin, Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, KM Asif, Sandeep Sharma.Player availability – Prasidh Krishna outPrasidh Krishna was ruled out of the season with a stress fracture of the back, which requires surgery. Sandeep Sharma, who went unsold at the player auction, has been named as his replacement.Obed McCoy is recovering from a knee injury and might sit out the early stages of the tournament.England will start their summer with a Test against Ireland on June 1, which is four days after the IPL final. While Chennai Super Kings’ Ben Stokes has said he will leave early to prepare, Joe Root’s availability for Royals for the closing stages of the IPL is unknown. England have eased up their approach with regards to allowing players complete their franchise-league commitments, as was seen during their limited-overs tour to Bangladesh.What’s new with Rajasthan Royals this yearJason Holder could be the solution to Royals’ problem of a long tail. In IPL 2022, 99.47% of Royals’ 2807 total runs came from the top seven.They could also start with Root instead of Shimron Hetmyer if they think they have enough firepower at the top and are instead looking for someone to bring stability in a crisis.There’s also the option of Root in place of Holder to further bolster the batting, and, in such a case, choose either Devdutt Padikkal or a bowler like KM Asif or Kuldeep Sen in the XI based on the toss result and use the Impact Player rule to substitute them later.They sent R Ashwin up the order as a pinch-hitter last season, which they could do once again if conditions suit the move. This year they can make the move with the comfort of knowing they have extra batting cushion if it does not come off.The good – Strong core for Sanju Samson’s boysRoyals have an experienced set of core players who are likely to feature in all of their games. Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson are gamechangers at the top; in Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ashwin they have wicket-taking as well as run-controlling options; Holder glues both disciplines together.Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga continue as head coach and director of cricket, and fast bowling coach respectively.The not-so-good – Inexperience in local pace ranksThey have Navdeep Saini and now Sharma, but in Prasidh’s absence, the inexperience of back-up bowlers Kuldip Yadav and Kuldeep Sen could show.They also lack like-for-like cover for Holder.Schedule insightsRoyals’ first two home games will be in Guwahati in Assam and not in Jaipur in Rajasthan, meaning a lack of familiarity to start off. And they don’t play in Jaipur until April 19th, their sixth game of the season.They largely have gaps of 2-3 days between their games (just twice, once at the end of April and then before their last league game of the season, do they have a four-day gap) so fatigue could be a factor.The big question

Ravindra’s knowledge of the conditions makes him as local as anyone can be, while Williamson, who’s working towards his comeback, is no stranger to these shores either

Shashank Kishore08-Oct-2023YH Chandrasekhar, the curator at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, has one final look at the square at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, seemingly happy with the work behind the scenes to get ready for the New Zealand vs Netherlands match on Monday. He suddenly gazes left, where Rachin Ravindra is training. He signals to him, but Ravindra is focused on the ball. The curator walks towards the centre nonetheless to exchange pleasantries. It dawns then that there’s a sense of familiarity between the two.In July, Ravindra was part of the Hutt Hawks, the Wellington-based club that his father runs, on an exchange programme to Hyderabad where they trained and played a series of 50-overs matches against the academy team run by MSK Prasad, the former India wicketkeeper and chief selector. Four of those matches were in Uppal, where Ravindra batted on three different centre strips, “training like mad” – according to Prasad – to fine-tune his game against pace and spin.He’d have a bowling session in the early morning, followed by breakfast. And then a 50-overs game until 4.30pm, followed by an hour’s rest and another indoor net session with the ball before calling it a day. It’s a routine he followed for the entire duration of his stay in Hyderabad, before he travelled to Anantapur, adjoining the Karnataka border, for more game time before returning home to Wellington.Related

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All this cricket was packed into a two-week calendar that was originally meant for him to be off to rest and recuperate ahead of the long season. While New Zealand’s squad hadn’t entirely been firmed up yet, Ravindra had been sounded out to be ready as he was among the probables picked for the high-performance camp.It’s this sense of familiarity that Ravindra will bank on as he returns to Hyderabad to play Netherlands in their second World Cup fixture. He may not be a local, but his knowledge of conditions and pitches makes him as local as anyone can be. His return to the venue couldn’t have been more grand, given he’s coming off a memorable World Cup hundred on debut against England in a sensational takedown with his good mate Devon Conway.A little over a week ago in Hyderabad, Ravindra batted with composure and poise to make 97 against a high-quality Pakistan attack in a warm-up game. Yet, he may have not played the World Cup opener had Kane Williamson been fit and available. But with Williamson still recuperating from an ACL injury, Ravindra had his chance and he’s made the most of it, giving Williamson and the team management healthy selection headaches.Rachin Ravindra hit a fine century on World Cup debut•Associated PressWilliamson himself is no stranger to these shores, having played eight IPL seasons for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He’s Kane to the local staff and fans. , a salutation in the local language Telugu, is reserved for someone much admired as Williamson is. But merely playing for the local franchise doesn’t guarantee cult status. With David Warner and Williamson, to a lesser extent, the popularity stems from their embracing the local culture, making them as much a fan favourite as a Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma.If Warner did an imitation of the dance to send the small crowd into a tizzy during the warm-up game last week, Williamson has given them moments to cheer with his imitation of a dance gig from , an Oscar-winning chartbuster, during an ICC promotion. Beyond the familiarity and colour, the real reel fans, especially those back home, are interested in is from the nets, where they want to see if Williamson has managed to get back the whole range of his movements, if Tim Southee is bowling full tilt and if Lockie Ferguson brings his bristling energy to training.Williamson surveyed the ground, and pointed to the bright orange seating that hits your eye as the peak afternoon sun glows bright. It’s a humid day, he’s already guzzled quite a few bottles of water already, and is out to train. Williamson has been confirmed to sit out, but he’s the central focus of the team’s physio and trainers.He goes through a series of carefully orchestrated movements to test his full range of mobility. Like doing forward stretches to defend, playing the sweep to test his hamstring, rising onto his toes to tuck the ball, sprinting between the wickets, the trigger movement when he turns at full stretch – they were all carefully monitored and ticked off. The hope is he’ll be fit in time to play Bangladesh on Friday. And for him to get there, Williamson seems to have done most things in his capacity.Southee too bowled a fair bit, even if not full tilt, feeling his way back into full rhythm in an afternoon session where temperatures hovered over the mid-30s. Southee was carefully monitored by Trent Boult, whose late swing back in was quite a sight. Every now and then, there was laughter, banter and wholesome encouragement for each other as they pushed hard on match eve. Daryll Mitchell batted and batted, as did Will Young and Ravindra before they retired to the dressing room. Or so you thought as they all began to walk off.Williamson then nudged assistant coach Luke Ronchi as they walked right back into the nets again. Williamson wasn’t satisfied with the full range of his straight hitting. So, he tried to perfect hitting on length deliveries, asking Ronchi to chuck him balls in an area he circled out, focusing on holding his shape and then carefully feeling his side. Then to top off the session, Ronchi fed him full tosses which Williamson kept pulling until it got to a point where he couldn’t stay out any longer, with the sun going down.Watching Williamson train was watching a perfectionist practice his craft, oblivious to the world around him. The police sirens that marked the arrival of Netherlands, the chaos of the shutterbugs that followed to snap the team getting off the bus, the sound of the generator that was running full throttle behind him and smoke from the fumigation around the nets area – none of this seemed to cross his mind. He was simply, to quote the old cliche, seeing ball, hitting ball until the last lux of light allowed him to.

Both have been selected for the Afghanistan T20Is, and look set to make the World Cup squad too. But should they feature in India’s best T20 XI?

Sidharth Monga08-Jan-20246:24

Is the Rohit-Kohli T20I selection a step forward or back?

There is every chance Rohit Sharma carries his ODI World Cup form into the T20 World Cup. He already has the intent. Who is to rule out that he unleashes the turbocharged version of the 135-plus strike rate in the powerplays in ODIs and continues going even harder after the sixth over in T20s, not putting a heavy price on his wicket because he knows of the muscle to follow?If Virat Kohli makes up his mind, can he not take on the spinners in the middle overs? He can even open the innings, thus forcing the opposition to bowl spin in the powerplay, and manages to hit them because of the field restrictions reducing the amount of spin India have to face in the middle overs.Anything can happen in T20 cricket especially with conditions being such a big unknown. Yet, on this day, the 8th of January, about five months before the T20 World Cup, it can objectively be said India are hoping to derive different results by doing the same thing over and over again.Related

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India's road to the T20 World Cup is paved with tough questions and options

The story of the last four T20 World Cups has been the same. India’s top order has been caught batting first in a game, unenterprisingly so, which has resulted in their ouster. Unless they are hoping to win every toss and be chasing, there must be some compelling reasons to pick a similar squad for the Afghanistan T20I series, which all but guarantees Rohit and Kohli will go to the World Cup now after having not played any T20 internationals since the 2022 T20 World Cup.Rohit has not had a year in T20 cricket where he has struck at 140 or above since 2018. His IPL team has already replaced him as captain looking at a prolonged dry run as a batter.Kohli faced 124 balls of spin in the middle overs of the IPL last year for a strike-rate of just 110. He made just 32 attempts to hit a boundary. By comparison, Suryakumar Yadav tried to hit a boundary off 59 out of 148 balls of spin he faced in the middle overs. In the whole of IPL, a boundary attempt was made once every 3.43 balls of spin in the middle overs, which is better than Kohli doing it once every 3.88 balls. If he bats at No. 3, Kohli’s main role will be in these middle overs.It seems likely that both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be part of India’s 2024 World Cup squad•AFP/Getty ImagesThese are the most obvious and basic things for us to point out. The selectors and the team management are equipped with more advanced metrics that will tell you an XI is too small for two such batters. Perhaps even one. The decision-makers in this case are smart former cricketers who are not being unmindful. In that case, in the absence of a press conference following the selection, we must try to look at plausible reasons.Hardik Pandya is injured. His fitness and availability are not the most reliable at the best of times. In his absence, Suryakumar captained the side for the Australia T20Is in late November last year, but he is injured too. This team for the Afghanistan series seems to be one of those rare selections where a captain has been chosen before debating the best 15. It seems they felt the team needed a leader, and they saw something promising in Rohit’s form and intent in ODIs.In all likelihood, once they brought Rohit back, leaving out Kohli, which in any case would have been an unpopular and a bold decision, it became even more so because how do you bring back one and leave out the other? We anticipated that dilemma once Rahul Dravid accepted an extension to his coaching job.A month later, despite being aware of everything, the leaders of the team have decided to bring back both Rohit and Kohli, which will likely result in there being no room for Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer or Rinku Singh in the playing XI. Even Shubman Gill for that matter, who had a great IPL 2023 showing both intent and the game to play the T20 format. These are players who provide a better structure to the team by being either left-hand or a spin hitter or a “finisher”. Players in whom the leadership invested between the two World Cups. Players who proved themselves.Rinku Singh has shown his love for finishing games in T20Is as well•Gallo Images/Getty ImagesIf there is a saving grace, it is that Kohli seems to have read the room. He attacked one in eight balls of spin in the middle overs in the IPL 2022 and had a strike rate of 105. That intent has definitely improved. There is also an element of asking Kohli to show an improved game in this series against Afghanistan and the IPL 2024 because he could have easily waltzed back in without any games straight into the T20 World Cup side. The same probably goes for Rohit.There is still room then to leave both or one of them out if their game doesn’t look up to the scratch for the T20 format. There is probably an element of them not coming back as a matter of right. That they actually have to earn their spots.These two are ultimate competitors and expert batters. You can’t bet against them achieving anything if they put their mind to it. Rohit has a game more naturally suited to the format so perhaps he will find it easier than Kohli, who on his part, is batting as well as he has ever batted in the other two formats. At this point, though, all that is more hope than evidence-based conviction.

The KKR seamers bowled 22 slower balls, conceding only 20 runs off them and picking up three wickets

Hemant Brar30-Mar-20241:41

Did RCB get their bowling plans wrong?

In a match where multiple bowlers clocked above 145kph, the slower balls had the biggest say as Kolkata Knight Riders became the first away team in IPL 2024 to register a win. They beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by seven wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Andre Russell, who had played an unbelievable knock here in 2019, once again had a key role, but not with the bat.Playing the second of their three back-to-back home games, RCB laid out a fresh pitch for Friday’s game. It had some loose cracks. When RCB’s batting coach Neil McKenzie was asked about the wicket on the eve of the match, he had said, “It should be a good pitch with some pace in it, which should probably suit our team”.That did not turn out to be the case, though. After being sent in, RCB posted 182 for 6, which KKR chased down with more than three overs to spare. The hallmark of their victory was how quickly they read and adapted to the pitch, both while bowling and batting.Related

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In the first innings, the ball was stopping quite a bit on the pitch, making it difficult for batters to play their shots. Russell was the first to realise it. In his opening over, the ninth of the innings, he bowled two slower balls into the wicket, one to Virat Kohli and the other to Cameron Green. Both batters went for the pull, only to under-edge it towards the wicketkeeper.Russell doubled the dose in his next over and bowled four slower balls, off which he conceded only one bye. He duly passed on the information to the other seamers in the team. Mitchell Starc, who had bowled at full throttle in his first two overs, sent down plenty of slower deliveries in his last two. Harshit Rana, too, did the same, and with good success.After 15 overs, RCB were 134 for 3. In the next three, they managed only 19 and lost two wickets. Even a set Kohli struggled with timing.As per ESPNcricinfo’s logs, the KKR seamers bowled 22 slower balls, conceding only 20 runs off them and picking up three wickets. “We knew if you try to bowl fast on this track, it becomes easy for the batters,” KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun told the host broadcaster during an in-game interview.It was only because of Dinesh Karthik’s late hitting that RCB crossed 180. Given the conditions, both teams felt it was a par total. After all, in the previous game here, albeit on a different pitch, Punjab Kings had almost defended 176.For the second innings, RCB had planned to bring in legspinner Karn Sharma as their Impact Player. But after seeing how the pitch had behaved, they changed their mind.Andre Russell’s pace variations deceived RCB batters often•AFP/Getty Images”It felt like someone who could bowl a really good slower ball was probably the most difficult bowler to face on this pitch,” Faf du Plessis, the RCB captain, said after the match. “When KKR bowled, they did it really well. Dre Russ probably bowled 80% of his balls as cutters.”So RCB went with Vijaykumar Vyshak, who has a good knuckle ball. However, their seamers did not find success despite following the same tactics. The 21 slower balls they bowled went for 47 runs and fetched one wicket.The reason for that was as the match progressed, dew started setting in. While it was not so heavy to transform the ball into a bar of soap, it did quicken up the pitch. As a result, the batting became easier.Sunil Narine and Phil Salt gave KKR a start of 86 in just 6.3 overs, after which Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer took over and shut the door on the opposition.Among the RCB seamers, only Vyshak was effective, and finished with figures of 1 for 23 from his four overs. The others – Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph and Green – went for 133 from their combined ten, and picked up just one wicket.”There was one end, the far end, that was still tricky,” Venkatesh, who scored 50 off 30 balls, said. “From there, the ball was stopping. It was slightly two-paced, and there was double bounce.”That was the end from where Vyshak bowled all his overs.”But the other end certainly got better,” Venkatesh continued, “and the communication was to target the bowlers from that end.”This was the first loss for a home team this season after nine straight wins. Given RCB’s record at the Chinnaswamy, it was no surprise they were on the receiving end.

With 87 not out off 47 balls against West Indies, the England opener showed he could bat deep and finish the game for his side

Matt Roller20-Jun-2024

Phil Salt soaks in the winning moment•ICC via Getty Images

Phil Salt played a walk-on role in England’s T20 World Cup win in Australia two years ago but is a leading actor in their bid to become the first men’s team to retain the title. After a series of false starts, this was where England’s tournament began and Salt was the protagonist, walking off unbeaten with 87 not out off 47 balls to his name.Until recently, Salt was a man for a good time, not a long time; a powerplay dasher who could be relied on for a lightning-fast start but not much more, rarely pushing on beyond the tenth over. It took until last year – the eighth of his T20 career – for him to face 50 balls in a single innings. Even the best canapés still need a main course to follow.But in St Lucia, he showed how he has evolved as a player. He played high-impact innings throughout the IPL, with the Impact Player rule and the cushion of a deep batting line-up allowing him to tee off. But with England lighter than usual on batting and their finishers short on recent gametime, he recognised that his role was to bat through.Related

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Salt raced to 35 off 20 after six overs, hitting towering sixes off Andre Russell and Alzarri Joseph. He has struggled in the past against left-arm spin but largely negated the threat of Akeal Hosein, albeit surviving an early chance when Nicholas Pooran dropped a difficult toe-ender behind the stumps.Rather than passing the baton to the middle order, Salt recognised the opportunity to take the chase deep and win the game himself. With the field spread and West Indies’ fingerspinners taking over, he hit 14 off 17 balls from overs seven till 15, letting Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow take the risks while he knocked the ball about.And when it was time to go, he went hard: every ball of Romario Shepherd’s 16th over went to – or over – the boundary, turning an equation of 40 off 30 balls into 10 off 24. It was stunning hitting, launching balls over cover, long-off and upper-cutting over Pooran. Once, Salt was a leg-side slogger; now he looks like a complete package.Phil Salt: “To play an innings like that alongside Jonny and come away with a win is a great feeling”•ICC via Getty ImagesThe dimensions at St Lucia played a significant role on the night: the square boundary towards the grass banks and the party stand measured 63 metres; the longer one towards the Johnson Charles Stand was 72 metres. There was also a stiff breeze blowing across the ground from the north-east, meaning hitting towards the pavilion was downwind.Salt has spoken extensively to Kieron Pollard since he linked up with England’s squad at the start of the month, and has tapped into his vast experience of playing T20 in the Caribbean. They have talked about targeting bowlers from one end when the dimensions and the breeze line up like this.”We’ve spoken a lot about taking eights from one side to take 12s from the other – and that’s 200,” Salt said. “It sounds so simple to say it, but [it was about] putting that into action. I knew I had slowed down. I knew I hadn’t got much strike, but I knew that if I just got through that period, we would be in a good position and I could have a good dip, [take a] good calculated risk at the seamers.”Salt’s splits were even more marked than Pollard suggested. When he stood at the pavilion end, with a long leg-side boundary and the breeze blowing towards him, he scored 27 off 22 balls (7.4 runs per over); when he was at the media centre end, hitting downwind with a short leg-side boundary, he belted 60 off 25 (14.4 runs per over).

“We’ve spoken a lot about taking eights from one side to take 12s from the other – and that’s 200”Phil Salt on his discussions with Kieron Pollard

He attributed his success to feeling comfortable in the side. Salt was privately seething last year when he missed out on England’s squad to face New Zealand in four T20Is towards the end of their home summer, but won back his opening spot for December’s Caribbean tour and made himself undroppable with two hundreds in that series.”The more you play, the more you feel secure in yourself and in your game,” he said. “It’s probably one of those things that you feel more confident to do. I feel like when you’re new to a side, you’re thinking, ‘what if I get out now?’ but I feel like once you’re a little bit more settled, you can play that role and take the onus on your own a little bit more.”There was another telling sign that Salt has grown up. In the 13th over, with Pooran chirping in his ear, he twice backed away before Gudakesh Motie could release the ball and asked him to stop. But rather than losing his temper, or letting Pooran bait him into a loose shot, he simply brushed it off. “I’m not sure if it’s some sort of mind game… but it’s nothing big at all.”Bairstow’s innings – 48 not out off 26 balls, his highest at a T20 World Cup – was vital for Salt, vindicating England’s decision to bat him in the middle order. He took Hosein and Joseph on in the 14th and 15th over and almost single-handedly turned a ten-an-over equation into a much more manageable required rate of eight.But this was Salt’s night, and his chance to show off to the world just how good he has become. “To come here against a very strong side that are riding that wave of momentum and in their own conditions and with their home crowd, to play an innings like that alongside Jonny and come away with a win is a great feeling,” he said.

He is the first Indian in men’s internationals to get to his hundred with three back-to-back sixes (where data is available)

Sampath Bandarupalli07-Jul-20241 Abhishek Sharma became the first Indian to complete his century in men’s international cricket by hitting three consecutive sixes (where data is available). Shubman Gill has done something similar, but his back-to-back-to-back sixes took him to 200 in an ODI against New Zealand in 2023.46 Balls Abhishek needed for his century, the joint-third-fastest for India in men’s T20Is. Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball century in 2017 and Suryakumar Yadav’s 45-ball ton in 2023, both against Sri Lanka, are the two fastest tons for India, while KL Rahul also had a 46-ball hundred against West Indies in 2016.2 Innings Abhishek needed to score his maiden hundred in T20Is. No one from a Full Member country has got that landmark out of the way so quickly. He joins Evin Lewis, who like Abhishek, has a duck and a century as his first two T20I innings, while Richard Levi’s maiden ton also came in his second innings.65 Runs Abhishek scored against the Zimbabwe spinners, the most for India in a men’s T20I, going past Yuvraj Singh’s 57 runs against Pakistan in 2012 in Ahmedabad. Abhishek scored those 65 runs off 28 balls at a strike rate of 232.14 with six sixes and four fours.ESPNcricinfo Ltd317.39 Abhishek’s strike rate after being dropped in the eighth over. He scored 72 runs off his last 23 balls, with seven sixes and five fours. Abhishek’s first 24 balls fetched only 28 runs with three boundaries.2 Players before Abhishek to score a century in men’s T20Is in Zimbabwe. Aaron Finch’s world-record 172 against Zimbabwe in 2018 came in Harare, while Steven Taylor scored an unbeaten 101 against Jersey in Bulawayo in 2022.234 for 2 India’s total in Harare is now the highest by any team against Zimbabwe in men’s T20Is, surpassing Australia’s 229 for 2 in 2018. It is also the second-highest T20I total by any team in Zimbabwe, behind the 236 for 5 by Zimbabwe against Singapore in 2022.161 Runs scored by India in their last ten overs on Sunday, the third-most by any team in a men’s T20I innings, where ball-by-ball data is available. Nepal scored 192 runs in the final ten overs against Mongolia in 2023, while Japan scored 161 against China earlier this year.

The hosts have retained their core from this year’s T20 World Cup in a bid to become “championship-winning”, while the visitors are looking to create some depth in their ranks

Firdose Moonda22-Aug-20242:04

Sammy: ‘We want to become a championship-winning team’

No points on the line. No imminently looming World Cup to prepare for. Sport for sport’s sake, who’d a thunk?The three-match T20I series between West Indies and South Africa is a contextual anomaly on the cricket calendar because there does not seem to be any reason for it – other than that it was scheduled to take place. While fans may see it as an opportunity to just be entertained, neither side’s coaching staff was willing to take that approach. Instead, they’ve already begun a narrative of using these matches as a first step on the road to the T20 World Cup in 2026, even as the memories from the 2024 event have barely receded.West Indies hope to lay foundation for futureFor West Indies, the failure to reach the semi-finals of their home tournament – after defeat against South Africa – confirmed to white-ball coach Daren Sammy that they need to work on their tournament-play. “I want to become a championship-winning team. Right now, we are a series-winning team,” Sammy said. “We beat one team over a three- or five-game period and we know what to do, but I want this team to become a championship-winning team – where you can find and play a different opposition in a tournament, and be able to come up with the goods every single game.”Related

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In the lead-up to this year’s T20 World Cup, West Indies came out on top in four out of five T20I series, including two against South Africa and one against England. At the tournament itself, they were unable to beat either side in the Super Eights, when it mattered most. Whether another series against South Africa can help West Indies overcome this issue is debatable, but it does allow Sammy to keep his core group of players together – 11 of the 15 who were part of the World Cup squad are in this one – and hope the younger ones like Alick Athanaze and Sherfane Rutherford can learn from the likes of Johnson Charles and Rovman Powell.”Those guys of 2016 [the T20 World Cup West Indies won] are now the senior players,” Sammy said. “It’s a combination of youth and experience. And by the time you look at the next 16 months, hopefully the game plan we put in place, the roles and personnel we have will tick all the boxes, and the championship mentality we are looking for can come to fruition.”South Africa look to develop depth in talentSouth Africa have taken the opposite approach, and brought only six of the 15-member squad that reached their first men’s World Cup final as they try to create depth around the big names and among players who don’t always feature in T20 leagues. Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi have all been given the series off, with recalls for experienced names like Rassie van der Dussen, and call-ups for promising youth like Under-19 World Cup’s breakout star Kwena Maphaka.With several regulars given the series off, there was a recall for Rassie van der Dussen•Associated Press”It’s 18 months away from the 2026 World Cup. We’ve got nine series from now until then, which leaves us with around 32 to 36 fixtures before that World Cup,” Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, said. “In terms of giving guys international opportunities and playing against quality T20 sides – not every one of our players is a marquee player in the league – we have to use these opportunities to play against strong opposition. We need to grow the base of our players that are competing at this level.”For me, the importance of fixtures like these are massive. The leagues and the congestion is a challenge, but actually it can be a positive for us in that we’ve got a broader group of players that are playing competitive cricket.”Walter will also be looking for some level of consistency as he builds the squad. Before the 2024 T20 World Cup, South Africa had not won a T20I series in six attempts since beating Ireland in August 2022. They went into the tournament with only two wins from their previous 11 games, though it’s worth remembering that they pulled off a stunning run of eight successive victories to reach the final.Batters to watch: Nicholas Pooran and Reeza HendricksThe highest T20 run-getter so far this year is Nicholas Pooran, who has played 54 matches and scored 1628 runs, including 11 fifties. He was also West Indies’ highest run-scorer at the T20 World Cup, with 228 runs in seven matches. Pooran is known as one of the biggest hitters and best finishers in the game, and will be after a three-figure score to top off a stellar 2024.Nicholas Pooran is the highest run-getter in T20s so far this year•AFP/Getty ImagesJust 181 runs behind him this calendar year is Reeza Hendricks, but the least profitable of South Africa’s top six at the T20 World Cup. Hendricks scored 113 runs from nine games in the competition and, after missing out on playing even a single game despite being a part of the squad at the 2022 tournament, may have a sense he did not fulfil his potential, especially as he just turned 35. But Walter is backing Hendricks to keep going, and Hendricks will know the expectation is that runs will come.”In my opinion, 35 is not too old. There’s many guys who are playing at older than that, and they’re playing the best cricket of their life,” Walter said. “We are cognisant of age and building for the future, but also of wrapping younger guys with experience. We want to get the balance right.”Bowlers to watch: Kwena Maphaka and Obed McCoyTo that end, Kwena Maphaka, who was the Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 World Cup this year, could get his first international cap. He has already played first-tier provincial cricket for Lions, and two matches for Mumbai Indians at the IPL, so he has had some taste of the big time. Walter has yet to see Maphaka bowl in the flesh, but likes what he knows about him so far.”He’s a wonderfully calm young guy, and seems to have his head screwed on very well,” he said. “He’s done some incredibly amazing things for a very young guy, and seems to have a really cool perspective on it all. We see him as a strong potential for the priorities moving forward, and it was an ideal opportunity to just get him on tour and get him into the system.”Kwena Maphaka was the Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 World Cup this year•ICC/Getty ImagesWest Indies will also be relying on their younger quicks, with all of Alzarri Joseph, Jason Holder and Andre Russell rested. That puts responsibility on Obed McCoy as the senior seamer, and he has experience to lean on. McCoy has played more T20Is against South Africa and India than any other opposition – nine matches each – and had also bowled West Indies to a 3-0 series win against South Africa in May. He has also spent time in the SA20, so his knowledge of the South African batters could prove crucial for West Indies’ think tank.The venue: Brain Lara Academy, TaroubaThe ground staff at the Brain Lara Academy are still smarting from news that the surface they prepared for the T20 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan was deemed unsatisfactory by the ICC, and will be keen to do better. As a reminder, South Africa bowled Afghanistan out for 56 and chased the score down inside nine overs, with the low scores being put down to uneven bounce and excessive seam movement. But happily, that’s not the norm here, and in 35 completed first innings in the CPL, the average first-innings score is 145, which, in the last two seasons, has increased to 158.On the weather front, there may be some nerves as well after rain washed out most of the first Test, which was held in nearby Port-of-Spain. But the news is better for the T20Is. There are morning showers forecast for Friday and Sunday – the days of the first and second match – which should clear by the afternoon. The third game, on Tuesday, might be in some danger of being affected, but downpours are not expected to be constant, and a three-hour playing window should be possible. All three matches will start at 3pm local time.