India vs South Africa Prediction: Kuldeep very much the man to beat in 1st T20

Jamie Pacheco previews the 1st IT20 from Cuttack on Tuesday, December 9, start time 13:30 and live on TNT Sports.  

Jamie is putting faith in India's best spinner with the ball and two big-priced Proteas with the bat as he previews the action and gives us his India vs South Africa Predictions for Tuesday's match...   

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Match Preview:

India  

On Saturday, India chased an under-par score at a canter with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli each good for a half-century and Yasahvi Jaiswal scoring a century, in the process joining an elite club of players to have 100s in all three international formats.  

Earlier Kuldeep Yadav in particular stopped SA in their tracks and reduced them to a score that was at least 30-40 runs short. 

We're into T20 mode now and as per usual, that means a change in players. No KL Rahul, Kohli, Sharma, Jaiswal or Jadeja, who seem to be out of their T20 plans at the moment, but Jasprit Bumrah and Shubman Gill are among those who are back. So is Hardik Pandya.  

South Africa  

As per above, the Proteas were seriously guilty of throwing away such a good start. Quinton  de Kock scored a brilliant century, but no one else supported him or even managed to score at better than a run a ball.  

Our man Matheew Breetzke was one of those, his 23 falling just four short of the 27 we needed him to get in what was a rare failure for Mr Consistency. Only Keshav Maharaj showed any control with the ball and took the only wicket; it was that kind of day.  

There's no Temba Bavuma or Breetzke, but Tristan Stubbs returns to the middle order with George Linde and Donovan Ferreira looking to join Marco Jansen as the all-rounder.  

Pitch and conditions. 

Three T20Is have been played at Cuttack over the years.  

India beat Sri Lanka in 2017 but have played SA here twice and lost both.  

SA rolled India out for just 92 in 2015 and then chased 198 with relative ease in 2022.  

In 2017, India set Sri Lanka 181 to win and defended it easily. So not a particularly easy wicket to work out, so chasing and knowing what you have to do looks the way forward.  

Match Winner odds 

India are 4/9 (69%) with South Africa 7/4 (36.4%). No real surprises there as such.  

Those are exactly the same odds ahead of Saturday's match. 

SA will, as ever, be competitive and excellent in the field, but this is already starting to feel like a long tour, and though some fresh blood, like Stubbs Donovan Ferreira, will help matters, I'd rather wait and see how they're looking in the first game before getting involved in the main market.  

*For all the latest and live India vs South Africa IT20 Odds then head over to betfred.com 

India Top Bowler  

When Bumrah is playing, his price for top bowler is normally the first port of call (it's 13/5 here) but maybe he's the wrong favourite anyway.   

Kuldeep Yadav taking 3/4 wickets a match has almost become so normal that not much of a fuss was made about it when he took 4 in the first and third ODIs, winning the first time and dead-heating with Rana in the second.  

Hi, strike rate in T20Is is now at 11.7, while Bumrah's is 17, so you can see why I think Kuldeep should be the favourite. He's 11/4 and that will do me fine.  

South Africa Top Batsman  

We’ll have to wait and see where Stubbs bats on the day but if it’s five or higher, the 15/2 on him is far too big for a man with his record and ability.  

Donovan Ferreira is a slightly different case. He may not play at all but I think he will and will bat at six. That means he may not get too much of a chance to top-score, but the good news is his T20I strike rate stands at 160, so even 20 or so balls could be enough for him to come close at 9/1, so we’ll split stakes between the two.  

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