IND vs SA 2025: Harbhajan Singh picks both Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy in India Playing XI for Cuttack clash

IND vs SA 2025: Harbhajan Singh picks both Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy in India Playing XI for Cuttack clash (Source: Harbhajan Turbanator Singh/YouTube)

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has revealed his predicted India XI for the first T20I of the five-match series against South Africa. The game is set to be played under the influence of dew, and despite that, Harbhajan believes that the Indian team should go with two specialist spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy, while left-arm orthodox of Axar Patel has also found his way in.

The top four was the usual with Abhishek Sharma and the returning Shubman Gill opening the batting, followed by skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. Harbhajan picked Jitesh Sharma over Sanju Samson as the wicketkeeper. He went ahead with Axar and a returning Hardik Pandya as the two all-rounders, skipping Shivam Dube.

As for the bowling lineup, Harbhajan shortlisted two pacers and as many spinners. He left out Harshit Rana out. Harshit recently represented the Men in Blue in all three ODIs of the 50-over leg, picking up four wickets at an economy rate of 6.39.

“From this series, the face and the final combination of the Indian team will become visible. We’ll see who the players are that’ll remain in the XI. There might be a change or two, if the pitch is green, you might add an extra seamer. But otherwise, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav must play together because they are wicket-takers,” shared Harbhajan in a video on his YouTube channel.

Harbhajan’s XI for India against South Africa for the first T20I:

Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy

India come into the T20Is on the back of a 2-1 win in the ODIs. Meanwhile, the Proteas came out victorious in the Test series by whitewashing the hosts to commence their tour. Now, the T20I series opener will be staged at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on December 9. Many key players for India will be returning to the side.

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