'He had a good run in IPL 2022...', Zaheer Khan picks his player to watch out for in India vs South Africa T20I series

Team India is all set to take on South Africa in the five-match T20I series. The opening encounter of the series will be played in Delhi on June 9, Thursday. BCCI has rested most of the key players like captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and M Shami for the series. IPL stars like Umran Malik, Dinesh Karthik and Arshdeep Singh were picked in the squad for the South Africa series. Even though all these young talents will be on display in the series, former India cricketer Zaheer Khan feels that Hardik Pandya is the player to watch out for in the upcoming series. 

Snapshots from #TeamIndia's training session ahead of the 1st T20I against South Africa.#INDvSA @Paytm pic.twitter.com/wA8O1Xr0i7 — BCCI (@BCCI) June 8, 2022

"The key player from India for sure, only one player comes to my mind and that is Hardik Pandya. The last time we saw him play for India was in the World Cup. He's had a good run in the IPL and is coming off a high from those performances and the leadership qualities that he has shown. I'm sure he will be looking forward to the big World Cup later this year. There are certainly going to be a lot of expectations from him (in) this series, looking at how he is shaping up," Zaheer, who worked with Hardik in the Mumbai Indians set-up, told Cricbuzz.

Pandya is coming into this series after a brilliant performance in IPL 2022. He led the Gujarat Titans to their maiden IPL title in the debut season. Pandya shined with the bat as well as with the ball and was also named Man of the Match in the final of the cash-rich league.