Thiruvananthapuram, September 28: India will take on South Africa in the first T20I here at the Greenfield Stadium on Wednesday (September 28), eyeing an early lead in the three-match series.
India is coming off a hard-fought 2-1 win over Australia recently and the side led by Rohit Sharma will be eager to replicate that feat, albeit in a much more authoritative fashion.
India will also hope that their bowlers will find their range in the death overs, and the top 3 of skipper Rohit, senior batter Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will fire more consistently.
Here’s then the toss info, playing 11 update, captains’ comments and pitch report of India vs Australia 1st T20I.
Toss: India won the toss, opted to field.
1. Playing 11
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (w), Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.
2. South Africa: Quinton de Kock (w), Temba Bavuma (c), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi.
3. Captains’ comments
Rohit Sharma, India captain: “We are gonna bowl first. It was a good wicket when we played here last time. Bit of green covering but it's gonna be a good batting track. Very critical to continue to do what you're doing and keep that momentum in this format. Very healthy atmosphere in the group and we also want to make sure to tick all the boxes and so far we have been doing good and we just want to continue to do that. Hardik and Bhuvi are rested from the last series. Pant and Arshdeep come in for them. Bumrah and Chahal miss out. Deepak chahar and Ashwin are back.”
Temba Bavuma, SA captain: “We probably would have fielded first as well. Good going over the last couple of months. This is an important series for us and we want to continue all the good work. Guys always enjoy the India trip, the energy of the guys is up again and nice to be back in action after a couple of months. Different conditions to Australia but in terms of match practice, it is a great opportunity.”