South Africa captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to field against India in the first T20 International on Friday.
Hosts South Africa have handed a debut to 21-year-old all-rounder Andile Simelane.
As India firmly embraces a transition phase, a clutch of second line stars such as Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma will be hoping for a breakaway series in the four T20Is against South Africa.
It is imperative for them to shed the tag of sidekicks and establish themselves as the first-choice players in this format.
The recent home T20I series against Bangladesh was a precursor. Samson received a chance to open consistently against the neighbours, and he made most of it slamming a 47-ball 111.
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In the post-Rohit Sharma era in T20Is, Samson would like to further buttress his claim for a regular opening slot with a few fruitful outings against the Proteas.
This is an important series for Abhishek as well. The dashing left-hander showed his impressive skills while hammering a 47-ball hundred against Zimbabwe at Harare in July, but his other six international innings have produced – 0, 10, 14, 16, 15, 4.
Abhishek will be keen to be more consistent to safeguard his place, and he will also be looking to be more penetrative with his left-arm spin.
Tilak Varma offers a similar case. The left-hander has somewhat fallen off the radar after making a solid beginning to his T20I career against the West Indies in August 2023.
Teams:
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Varun Chakravarthy.
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Partrick Kruger,Marco Jansen,Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter.
(With agency inputs)
