So, the team management will eye a flawless outing from this quintet against South Africa, who are coming off a less than satisfactory outing against the Lankans at home in the T20Is.
India’s bowling too looks very strong on paper, as pacers Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar and Arundhati Reddy have been on the money, while spinners Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Asha Shobana and Shreyanka Patil present a formidable force.
From a South African perspective, they will depend heavily on skipper Laura Wolvaardt for runs up the order and early momentum. Wolvaardt showed her prolific side slamming a century each in the ODIs and in the one-off Test.
The opener’s form will be a crucial factor if SA want to win a T20I series since January last year when they prevailed in a home tri-series also involving India and the West Indies.
We have played a lot of good cricket in patches, but to narrow it down, we have to be more consistent, all-rounder Chloe Tryon had mentioned in the pre-match press meet.
But the tourists can’t lean on Wolvaardt alone as they need runs from Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Anneke Bosch and Tazmin Brits.
Nonkululeko Mlaba and Masabata Klaas, Nadine de Klerk and Ayabonga Khaka will have to be at their absolute best against this Indian batting line-up.
The Proteas will also hope that they can get a few overs from the experienced Kapp, who has not bowled in the series so far as she is recovering from an injury.
Although the MA Chidambaram pitch generally remains on the sluggish side, it was a smoother one in the one-off Test. So, the teams will be keeping an eye on its nature too ahead of this series.
Teams (from): India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur (C) Smriti Mandhana (vc), Uma Chetry (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Dayalan Hemalatha, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Sajeevan Sajana, Deepti Sharma, Asha Sobhana, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Shabnam Shakil, Pooja Vastrakar and Radha Yadav.
South Africa Women: Laura Wolvaardt (C), Tazmin Brits, Mieke de Ridder (wk), Sinalo Jafta (wk), Anneke Bosch, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Eliz-Mari Marx, Nonkululeko Mlaba and Tumi Sekhukhune.
Match starts: 7.00 pm (IST).