Will Abhishek Sharma survive the heat to secure his spot? Explore probable XIs for India vs South Africa 2nd T20I

India's impressive 61-run win at Kingsmead in Durban has alleviated any selection dilemmas for the Indian camp. Suryakumar Yadav can take solace in the fact that the team combination was spot on against the formidable South African side.

With the batting firing from the top and the bowling combination also clicking to restrict South Africa’s dangerous middle order, the pieces fell into perfect position for team India. Conversely, there will be questions for Aiden Markram and company after the Durban beatdown. They will be on the hunt to fix their errors in Gqeberha, which promises to be a similar wicket to Kingsmead with the rain playing a part.

India can be expected to persist with the same team with no changes as they try to seal a positive series result at St. George’s Park. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see whether Abhishek Sharma, who is going through a rough patch, manages to retain his place in the XI for the second match. The other question might be whether or not to hand a debut to Vijaykumar Vyshak, or potentially bring in Ramandeep Singh. However, expect India to stick with the winning combination which they have done in the last few T20Is.

On the South African front, the batting will be expected to click sooner rather than later. Their bowling will be a bigger concern, with most bowlers bleeding runs at Kingsmead. It will be interesting to see if they persist with Nqaba Peter, whose spin was taken apart by Sanju Samson, or if they choose to use the part-time spin of Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs to a greater degree and boost their batting.

However, South Africa are also likely to not change too many things around, with execution being a greater factor in their heavy loss than preparation. One change they may look to make is bringing Donovan Ferreira, who can be a useful spinner, for medium-pacer Patrick Kruger. Nevertheless, their middle order clicking into gear will be the key for South Africa’s success.

Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi

Aiden Markram (c), Ryan Rickleton, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Patrick Kruger/Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Ottneil Baartman, Nqabayomzi Peter