South Africa is going to face India in a five-match T20I series in India, starting on 9 June 2022. India announced their squad with some quality spinners like Yuzuvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel. Hence, South African batters are preparing hard to face them and for that reason, a 14-year-old boy has been drafted.
Raunak Waghela has been drafted by the Proteas as a net bowler. This boy is known as a local cricketer from Delhi. He trains under Devdutt & Ashok Kumar at the Venkateshwar Cricket Academy. He already represented Delhi’s U16 team. South Africa called up Waghela as they lack orthodox left-arm spinners.
“It is an experience which will remain with me for a long time.” – Raunak Waghela
Speaking to Cricketgraph, Raunak said that it is a big opportunity for him as he is getting to bowl at some of the top international cricketers. He said: “it’s a big opportunity to bowl to some top-class international players. It is an experience that will remain with me for a long time. The South African team was not only very professional but also very warm and generous.”
He also shared his experience by stating; “The way these batters do their shot selection and immediately pick up line and length is something I learned immediately as a bowler. You need to be on the top of your game and continuously improve. These are a few lessons I learned because batters at the international level are always skilled enough to take you on.”
Full Squad of both the Teams
India
KL Rahul (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain, wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
South Africa
Temba Bavuma (C), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen and Marco Jansen.
