Freedom Trophy is awarded to the winner of Test series between India and South Africa, known as Gandhi-Mandela series. The trophy was first awarded in 2015-16 when India hosted the series. The 2019-2020 Freedom Trophy will be the third series of the trophy. The test series will mark the beginning of South Africa’s campaign in 2019-2021 World Test Championship. For India, it will be their second series in their World Test Championship campaign
South Africa will be coming into the series as the holders of the trophy. The Freedom Trophy will mark the beginning of the Indian team’s domestic season. The series will consist of three Twenty20 International and three Test matches. The India vs South Africa schedule of test series will run from 2 October 2019 to 23 October 2019. The matches will be played at Visakhapatnam, Pune and Ranchi. The Twenty20 International matches will be played at Dharamsala, Mohali and Bengaluru.
Going by the performance and live cricket score of the Indian squad in the ongoing series against West Indies, there shouldn’t be many changes in the T20 squad. The top and middle-order are expected to be consisting of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. Rishabh Pant will play as the wicketkeeper. Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya will be the possible all-rounders in the squad. The bowling attack will be most probably led by Japrit Bumrah along with Bhvehswar Kumar. Young talents like Chahar brothers, Khaleel Ahmed and Navdeep Saini may also find a place in the T20 squad.
As far as the Indian Test squad is concerned, the top order will most probably be made of Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli. Experienced players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will provide stability to the middle order. Ravindra Jadeja is the best option for the role of an all-rounder in the squad. In the fast bowling attack, Jasprit Bumrah will be accompanied by Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal will be the preferred spinners for the series.
As far as the Proteas are concerned, they will surely miss the likes of AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla in the series. Quinton de Kock will be leading South Africa’s Twenty20 International squad for the three-match series against India. The squad will not feature Faf du Plessis. The T20 squad will also have some new faces like Nortje, Bavuma and Bjorn Fortuin. South Africa will look to identify a pool of players for the T20 World Cup which is scheduled for next year.
South African Test squad will have Dane Piedt, Senuran Muthusamy and Keshav Maharaj as the spin bowling options. Zubayr Hamza will be looking forward to carrying his impressive performance against Pakistan and grab the opportunity created by the retirement of Hashim Amla. Henrich Klaasen will replace Rudi Second as the wicketkeeper due to an injury to Second. Anrich Nortje and Kasigo Rabad will be leading the pace attack of the Test squad which will be captained by Faf du Plessis.
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