Burger, Mulder among six South Africa talents to watch

ODIs fade into the wings of the international cricket stage for at least the next six months, with focus shifting to the T20 World Cup, but a Champions Trophy is only 15 months away and some of the early planning starts now. Most teams are likely to see significant changes from the squads that did duty at this year's World Cup and will use 2024 to usher in a new generation of players, as India are doing in South Africa this week.

Only three - KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Kuldeep Yadav - of the 15 member squad that reached the World Cup final are here to take part in the 50-overs leg. "They can almost field three different sides and really compete with the best in the world," South Africa's stand-in captain Aiden Markram said. For their part, South Africa have chosen a slower transition and retained nine of their World Cup squad. But, they have big gaps to fill, specifically in the opening batter and the allrounders' spots and those are the positions that will be in the spotlight over the next week. This is who to keep an eye on:

With Quinton de Kock retired from ODIs and regular captain Temba Bavuma rested from this series, de Zorzi has an opportunity to establish himself as an opener for the future. He has done the job once before, against West Indies earlier in the year, and regularly for his domestic team, Western Province. In this year's one-day cup, de Zorzi was the seventh-highest run-scorer, and had a higher strike rate than four of the batters above him. Markram is looking forward to a "nice positive brand of cricket from his side," and confirmed de Zorzi will partner Reeza Hendricks at the top. "He seems excited about it, and the coach seems excited about it. We enjoyed what we saw from Tony earlier in the year and this is another opportunity for him to express himself."

With 77 ODI caps to his name, Phehlukwayo is hardly a newbie but in a year that started with him being dropped from the national side and losing his central contract, this is a second coming. Phehlukwayo was given another chance when Sisanda Magala was ruled out of the World Cup squad with a knee injury and though he only played one match at the tournament, he has since found his way back into both white-ball squads and with big tournaments aplenty, could yet become South Africa's go-to allrounder. Phehlukwayo has ability with both bat and ball and at 27 years old, is showing the maturity South Africa hoped would come into his game. "He sees himself now as not a young guy in the team anymore, but as a guy with a bit more responsibility and I think he has taken on that responsibility really well," Markram said. "He has finished games with the bat, he has bowled some crucial spells in the middle overs with the ball and it is exciting to have him playing that sort of cricket and putting his hand up."

A competitor for Phehlukwayo's place in the team, Mulder has not played white-ball cricket for South Africa in more than two years but is now being considered across all formats. He has gained experience overseas, and played an important role in Leicester reaching the one-day cup final earlier this year and then winning the cup. Mulder's struggles in the past has been lack of consistency, in opportunity and performances, and South Africa may give him the full series to try and change that.

The only uncapped player in the squad forced his way to selection with strong performances in domestic cricket. He was the joint-third-highest wicket-taker in the provincial one-day tournament and scored a century for Western Province in the final and, at 23 years old, seems an excellent prospect. He was part of the South Africa A squad that played first-class matches against West Indies in November and December and while he may have to wait to his turn for a chance in this series, so far, his team-mates are impressed with what they've seen. "He is a young guy and he thinks about the game in a great way," Markram said. "He is pretty streetwise when it comes to his plans and adapting to conditions. It's exciting for us to have a new face like him in the squad."

With Anrich Nortje still recovering from a lower back stress fracture, Burger has been tasked with bringing express pace to this series and showed what he can do on debut in the T20I on Thursday. Though expensive, his speeds were upwards of 145 kph and he found some swing and longer spells may give the selectors a better idea of what he offers. Burger was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the provincial one-day cup with an economy rate of 4.60 which suggests the talent is there. Now it's just about showing it.

South Africa's reliable stand-in seamer, Williams, could consider himself the leader of the attack in this series in the absence of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and even Gerald Coetzee. While he has more experience as a T20 cricketer at international level, he has 60 List A games to his name and as someone who has played at the most recent World Cup, he could be an important member of South Africa's transitioning outfit, when it comes to skills-sharing.