South Africa announce squad for India T20I series; Tristan Stubbs earns maiden call-up

In the latest development, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced the squad to face India in a 5-match T20I series slated to be played from June 9 to 19. 

The middle-order batter Tristan Stubbs has earned a maiden call-up to the national side after performing well in the domestic circuit. In the CSA T20 Challenge 2022, Stubbs slammed 293 runs in 7 innings and was the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament. 

On the other hand, Anrich Nortje has been cleared to play, and veteran pacer Wayne Parnell is making a comeback in the T20I setup after 2017. 

The CSA Convenor of Selectors, Victor Mpitsang, opined on Stubbs and other experienced players who are named in the squad. 

“Tristan Stubbs is an exciting prospect and we’re keen to see what he’s made of and we are looking forward to the return of the experience of Reeza (Hendricks), Klaasie (Heinrich Klaasen) and Wayne Parnell to join the likes of Temba (Bavuma), Tabraiz (Shamsi) and Keshav (Maharaj).

Mpitsang thinks it is one of the strongest T20I teams in the recent teams, and hoped that the players playing in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will do well for South Africa in similar conditions. 

“This is the Proteas like we have not seen them in a long time. The injection of the IPL players means that we will have a team that’s ready to fire on all cylinders immediately and has vast experience of the conditions that we will be playing in,” said Mpitsang. 

“The country can also join us in a collective sigh of relief at the return of Anrich Nortje, who has been working hard to recover from a frustrating injury. The National Selection Panel and I are really excited to watch our full strength Proteas take on the world’s number one T20 team,” he added. 

The South African team are currently fourth in the ICC T20I rankings, while India is at number one.

Squad: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen

Series Schedule: 

Thu, June 9: India vs South Africa, 1st T20I- Delhi

Sun, June 12: India vs South Africa, 2nd T20I- Cuttack

Tue, June 14: India vs South Africa, 3rd T20I- Visakhapatnam

Fri, June 17: India vs South Africa, 4th T20I- Rajkot

Sun, June 19: India vs South Africa, 5th T20I- Bengaluru