Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh will be eyeing to surpass Yuzvendra Chahal for most T20I wickets for India when the Men in Blue take on South Africa in a three-match series, starting in Durban on Friday. Both Arshdeep and Pandya have 87 wickets in T20Is each and need just 10 wickets to eclipse Chahal, who has been out of contention for the past couple of years.
While Chahal leads the list currently with 96 wickets for India in T20Is, another out-of-contention seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar sits second with 90 wickets. Arshdeep has been one of the most prolific wicket-takers in 2024. After finishing IPL 2024 with 19 wickets for Punjab Kings, the left-arm pacer finished joint-highest with 17 scalps in the T20 World Cup 2024, thus playing a vital role in India’s second world title-triumph in the shortest format of the game.
Having made his T20I debut against England in 2022, Arshdeep has played 56 games so far. He was also part of the Indian team against Bangladesh and took four wickets in two games. Hardik is much senior to Arshdeep and made his India debut back in 2016 under MS Dhoni.
The all-rounder has been pivotal in India’s T20I success over the years and played 105 games in the shortest format so far. Premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah (89), who is third on the list of most T20I wickets for India, will be missing the series as he has been named in the Indian squad for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
After the first match in Durban, the focus shifts to St George’s Park in Gqeberha for the second game two days later. The third and fourth games will be played in Centurion and Wanderers on November 13 and 15 respectively.
India’s T20I squad vs South Africa
Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.