While Ishan Kishan has done well so far, Ruturaj Gaikwad (23, 1) has pulled the team down with questions being raised over his technique against quality pacers and his ability to force the pace early on.
Comeback man Heinrich Klaasen followed Rassie Van der Dussen's suit in turning out to be an unlikely hero with a career-best 81 as South Africa once again outwitted India by four wickets on a tricky pitch to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20I series.
IMAGES from the 1st T20I played between India and South Africa in New Delhi on Thursday.
Deepak Chahar's unavailability due to an ankle injury will complicate selection matters with India looking for a much-improved bowling performance in the must-win second ODI against South Africa, in Ranchi, on Sunday.
Images from the T20 World Cup match between Pakistan and South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
Archer spent 17 months on the sidelines with back and elbow injuries
Wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock will be available for the ODI series after his abrupt retirement from Test cricket on Thursday, while all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius earns a recall.
David Miller is the most valuable player in the India-South Africa T20I series because he scored a lot of runs at a blazing pace.
Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12 match between the Netherlands and South Africa, in Adelaide, on Sunday.
India will be looking to round off their T20 World Cup preparation with a marked improvement in their death bowling besides providing crucial game time to its untested players in the three-match series against South Africa.
South Africa took 16 Sri Lanka wickets in a little over two sessions to secure a ruthless victory by an innings and 118 runs in the third and final Test at the Wanderers on Saturday.
Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are expected to spit fire on a track that will offer steep bounce as India's top-order gears up for its toughest test in adverse conditions against a top-notch South African side in the T20 World Cup on Sunday.
It may be an inconsequential game on paper but Indian bowlers await another tough test against South Africa ahead of the T20 World Cup when the two teams meet in the final game of the three-match series in Indore on Tuesday.
India overpowered South Africa by 16 runs in a high-scoring contest in the second T20 International in Guwahati on Sunday to register their first-ever T20 home series victory against the Proteas.
IMAGES from the 2nd ODI played between India and South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday.
Images from the rain-curtailed 1st ODI between India and South Africa in Lucknow on Thursday.
India will need another near perfect game to take the five-match series into the decider.
While the batting looks in perfect shape, India's new-look pace department needs to come up with something special against the Proteas in Cuttack on Sunday.
Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj have been added to the squad as injury replacements but they do not figure in the World Cup-bound squad, as of now.
It was an eighth ODI victory in a row for South Africa and an 11th win in succession at home as they showed form in the build-up to the Champions Trophy in England in June.
A lot of grey areas are yet to be addressed, but a young Indian team, with an admirable collective temperament, will start as favourites in the series-deciding fifth T20 International against South Africa, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
IMAGES from the 4th T20I between India and South Africa played in Rajkot on Friday.
Delhi Daredevils pacer Wayne Parnell is all praise for his skipper Kevin Pietersen, saying that the Englishman's calmness has rubbed off on his team-mates in their IPL campaign so far.
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.
The Indian team's strategy is expected to undergo paradigm shift with some players getting a subtle yet stern message to lift their games as they face an embarrassing possibility of a clean sweep against South Africa in the third ODI, in Cape Town on Sunday.
A complete list of players, who failed to attract any bid in the IPL 2021
Indian spinner Rahul Sharma's participation in the ODI series against Sri Lanka was, on Friday, thrown into jeopardy after he tested positive for consumption of drugs in a rave party in Mumbai in May, making his arrest inevitable.
KL Rahul will have to show drastically improved leadership acumen when he leads India against a buoyant South African side in the second ODI on Thursday.
The BCCI has said it will not jump the gun and 'execute' Rahul Sharma without conducting a proper investigation after the cricketer tested positive for drugs at a rave party in Mumbai in May.
India and Pune Warriors player Rahul Sharma says he will stop playing cricket if his blood test returns positive for drugs after the leg-spinner was detained during a rave party in Mumbai.
Tailenders Wayne Parnell and Rusty Theron fashioned a fantastic three-wicket victory for South Africa in the second Twenty20 international against Australia at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.
Whether he is batting in the middle or fielding at the boundary line, Virat Kohli's every move will be tracked, though some of that attention will now be on skipper K L Rahul.
JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, Wayne Parnell and Vernon Philander put South Africa on top as they reduced Australia to 112 for four on the second day of the second Test at St George's Park on Friday.
South Africa left out off-spinner Johan Botha, left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell and middle-order batsman JP Duminy from their Test line-up for the first match of the high-profile series against India, starting at Centurion on December 16. Captain Graeme Smith and key batsman Hashim Amla, who are both recovering from injuries, were expectedly named in the 12-man line-up.
Darren Bravo scored an enterprising century as West Indies rallied from a poor start to reach the final of the triangular one-day international series with a commanding 100-run victory over South Africa in Barbados on Friday.
AB de Villiers has been ruled out of South Africa's two-test home series against New Zealand this month with an injured elbow and Faf du Plessis will take over the captaincy.
Three wickets in as many balls sent Pakistan tumbling from cruise control to defeat by six runs in the second Twenty20 international against series winners South Africa in Dubai on Friday.
A hamstring injury will keep South African fast bowler Dale Steyn of out of the first two Twenty20 internationals against Australia in the next week, Cricket South Africa said.
India survived several anxious moments before beating South Africa by one run in the first One-Day International at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on Sunday. Wayne Parnell smashed 49 from 45 deliveries but was run-out off the final delivery of the innings as South Africa were dismissed for 297, in reply to India's 298 for nine in 50 overs.
Following are the statistical highlights of the Champions Trophy match between New Zealand and South Africa played in Centurion.
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