India's top 5 wicket-takers in T20Is vs South Africa ft. Yuzvendra Chahal

India have travelled to South Africa for a multi-format series. The series gets underway with the T20Is at first, with both teams taking on each other in the first game at Kingsmead in Durban on Sunday.

If India have to win the series, they will have to bowl exceedingly well. It is a known fact that pitches in South Africa assist seam bowling a lot, but spinners too have historically done well there.

While batters will play a crucial role, bowlers have to more than pull their weight in the series to ensure that they carry on from their strong showing against Australia last week.

For those not in the know, India come into this series on the back of a 4-1 T20I series win against the Aussies at home.

As an essential reading, in this listicle, we bring to you the top five wicket-takers for India in T20Is against South Africa.

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#5 Yuzvendra Chahal (7 wickets)

Yuzvendra Chahal, with seven wickets, is the fifth name on this list. The leg-spinner has played seven T20Is against South Africa in T20Is, and has bowled at an average of 31.28 against them.

Chahal has an economy of 9.87, which is slightly on the expensive side in this format of the game, but it is only to be expected from a wrist spinner.

The Haryana lad is known to make good use of his flight and deceive the batters in the air with his guile. Being a leg-spinner, most batters try to tear into him but end up losing their wickets in the process.

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#4 Arshdeep Singh (7 wickets)

Arshdeep Singh is fourth on this list.

Arshdeep Singh, who has played three T20Is against South Africa in his career, also has seven wickets under his belt. The left-arm seamer has become a regular for India in their T20I squad of late after his impressive performance in the IPL.

Arshdeep has a rather poor economy rate of 9.91 against the Proteas. However, most of these runs were conceded by him in the slog overs, where even the best get pelted all across the ground.

Arshdeep has a rather impressive average of 17 against South Africa in this format of the game.

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#3 Harshal Patel (9 wickets)

Harshal Patel in action for India.

Medium pacer Harshal Patel, who is not a part of India's plans at the moment, has played eight matches against South Africa, and has nine wickets to boast in them.

Harshal, who has played in 25 T20Is for India so far, has a very good slower delivery to go with his arsenal of cutters. With an economy of 8.60 and an average of 23.11, he has had a more than decent time against the Proteas.

The Haryana-born cricketer can win his spot in the Indian team back with good performances in domestic cricket as well as the IPL, and one can expect him to do so soon.

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#2 Ravichandran Ashwin (11 wickets)

Ravichandran Ashwin (right).

One does not necessarily relate Ravichandran Ashwin with playing T20I cricket, but he enjoys decent numbers in T20I cricket. The senior off-spinner is the second on this list with 11 wickets to his name against South Africa in 10 matches.

Ashwin is one of the finest spinners of his generation and perhaps the best spinner India has seen in the last ten years or so. His genius is underrated although he is one of the finest exponents of the art of off-spin. Ashwin has an impressive economy of 7.20 against South Africa as well.

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#1 Bhuvneshwar Kumar (14 wickets)

Bhuvneshwar Kumar during a net session with India.

Swing magician Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has sadly fallen out of favor with the selectors at the moment, tops this list. In the 12 matches that he has played against the Proteas, the right-arm seamer has picked up 14 wickets.

Bhuvneshwar also has the best economy among others in this list, with 6.69, which is often unheard of in this format of the game.

With his strong record against South Africa, it was surprising to see him not get selected for the tour.