Following the injury to India’s skipper KL Rahul and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav on the eve of the series, South Africa was forced to play the opening match without Aiden Markram due to a positive Covid-19 test. The series will proceed as usual without any pandemic-related limitations, with all other players testing negative.
Due to Markram’s absence, South Africa has shuffled their batting order, with David Miller coming in at No. 4, despite having batted at No. 6 for the national team. The top three are Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, and Rassie van der Dussen, leaving no room for Reeza Hendricks, who will be replaced by Tristan Stubbs at No.5.
Both seam-bowling allrounders Dwaine Pretorius and Wayne Parnell, as well as specialist spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi, have been selected by South Africa. Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen were benched in favour of two quicks, Kagiso Rabada and the fit-again Anrich Nortje, who is playing in his first match since last year’s T20 World Cup.
Dinesh karthik is back in the Indian team
After a three-year hiatus, India welcomed Dinesh Karthik back to the middle order, but did not entrust him with the wicket-keeping gloves. Rishabh Pant, the second-youngest player to lead India in a T20I, was chosen to preserve his place.
Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, along with three seamers and Hardik Pandya, were India’s spinners.
India T20I Team:
1 Ishan Kishan, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.
South Africa T20I Team:
1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Temba Bavuma (capt), 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 David Miller, 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Dwaine Pretorius, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi
