Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has confirmed that Steve Smith will bat in the top three in the Indian Premier League
'I've heard that I'm 100 per cent available for both skill sets in the IPL at the start, so yeah, I'm not too sure where that's kind of come from'
Opener Fakhar Zaman's scintillating 193 was not enough for Pakistan who lost the second one-day international to South Africa by 17 runs at The Wanderers on Sunday as the hosts levelled the three-game series.
'It just speaks volumes for the team at the moment. Everyone would do anything for each other so we're in a really good place.'
India will attempt to end its title drought against a South African side, which is unfamiliar with the winning feeling at major events.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Robin Uthappa hit half-centuries to power Chennai Super Kings to victory against Delhi Capitals in the IPL Qualifier 1 match on Sunday.
'We have to credit the Indian seamers who bowled really well. We will have to define ways to counter that in the second game.'
The Indian team management has asked Axar Patel to be mentally ready as he could be asked to bat in the top six.
Dinesh Karthik has failed to produce any significant score despite batting ahead of Eoin Morgan so far in the tournament.
Fawad Alam put Pakistan in control of the first Test against South Africa, chalking up a superb century to lead the home side to 308 for eight by the close of day two in Karachi for a first innings lead of 88 runs.
Had it not been for Kishan's free-flowing batting up front and then David's smashing sixes all over the park, MI would not have knocked out DC.
South Africa will be led by captain Quinton de Kock as they come off a 2-0 home series win over Sri Lanka that concluded on Tuesday.
Opener Quinton de Kock passed the half-century mark for the eighth time in nine innings across all formats to lift South Africa to a comfortable six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth One-day International at St George's Park on Wednesday.
South Africa's Quinton de Kock top-scored with a fluent 94 as they cruised to a 113-run victory over Sri Lanka and a 2-0 lead in their five-match One-day International series on Wednesday.
Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer admitted that there are too many "flaws" in his team's gameplan and execution as after a fourth straight defeat in the IPL match, in Dubai, on Saturday.
After a win like that, the morale of any team would be high but Delhi will need to find a way to bat well against the star studded RCB.
Player-of-the-Match Mohammed Shami's stunning spell went in vain as Delhi Capitals bowlers turned in stellar show to hand Gujarat Titans a 5-run loss.
India's journey into their ODI future will hit its first stop during the opening match against South Africa on Sunday.
Hetmyer was a livewire in the field and took three sensational catches.
The unmatched legacy and hegemony created by the galacticos of Mumbai Indians will be thoroughly challenged by a young Mumbaikar Shreyas Iyer, who will lead a passionate-but-unpredictable Delhi Capitals in a cracker of an Indian Premier League final, in Dubai, on Tuesday.
Delhi Capitals are at the bottom of the 10-team league with 2 points from 6 matches SunRisers Hyderabad are 9th with 4 points from 6 matches.
Rajneesh Gupta lists the South African players's T20 Internationals records updated after the game against Bangladesh.
KKR lost four batsmen in a row for ducks.
IMAGES from the T20 World Cup, Super 12 match between Australia and South Africa.
Rohit Sharma ended his barren spell with the bat as Mumbai Indians edged Delhi Capitals off the final ball of the match.
Delhi Capitals have made the perfect start to IPL, with two morale-boosting victories, while SunRisers Hyderabad are the only side yet to register a win in the tournament, having lost both their games.
Sunil Narine was the hero with both bat and ball as Kolkata Knight Riders scored a three-wicket win over Delhi Capitals and boosted their hopes of a place in the IPL play-offs, in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Heinrich Klaasen is the most expensive retained player in IPL history.
Shreyas Iyer, who led KKR to the IPL 2024 title, could be headed for the players' auction after failing to make a breakthrough in negotiations, while K L Rahul is also unlikely to be retained by LSG.
A look at how Delhi Capitals can upset Mumbai Indians in Thursday's first qualifier match.
Images from the Indian Premier League match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, in Sharjah, on Saturday.
The Men in Blue are on a 12-match winning streak and come Thursday, they can create an all-time record of winning 13 T20I games in a row.
Not just the 40 points, India will also be eyeing a 3-0 whitewash in the Gandhi-Mandela series.
This is the second time Quinton de Kock has won the Cricketer of the Year in CSA's virtual awards
Zak Crawley scored a maiden Test half century before South Africa fought back to restrict England to 192 for four when bad light stopped play early in the opening day of the fourth Test on Friday.
CSK have made it to the last four stage of 12 out of 14 tournaments -- the most by any team in the IPL.
Captain Virat Kohli led India to a resounding seven-wicket win over South Africa in the second T20 International with an unbeaten half-century, in Mohali, on Wednesday.
SKY overtook Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan to become just the second Indian player to hold the top T20I batter ranking.
Rajneesh Gupta has all the numbers about how each player from the Indian and South Africa teams fared in T20 Internationals.
Electing to bat, India's batting line-up came undone against South Africa's pace battery on a bouncy Perth wicket as they were reduced to 49/5 before Suryakumar Yadav played the rescue act.
