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PremiumIndia vs South Africa Live Score, 1st T20I updates: Having started his captaincy stint with resounding series wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Suryakumar Yadav will look to extend his winning streak when the Men in Blue take on South Africa in the four-match T20I series starting on Friday in Durban.
Following the T20 World Cup triumph and retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, the Indian team is going through a transition phase, with the next World Cup in 2026 in mind. The last time India went to South Africa for a T20I series was in 2023, where it ended in a 1-1 draw after the first game was washed out.
From the India's perspective, Indian batters made merry in the 2023 series with Suryakumar scoring a hundred while Rinku Singh also got runs under his belt. Kuldeep Yadav was the top wicket-taker in the series with six scalps. India enjoy a 15-11 head-to-head record against the Proteas while one game ended in no result.
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (w), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (w), Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Patrick Kruger, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter
Abhishek Sharma's struggle continues the India opener goes back for just 7 off Gerald Coetzee. The ball bounces a bit which foils Abhishek's timing and Aiden Markram does the rest. Suryakumar Yadav joins Sanju Samson in the middle. The Indian captain starts with a four and six. IND 34/1 (4)
Sanju Samson gets into groove with a four and six in the first two balls off Keshav Maharaj. 12 runs come from the over. IND 24/0 (3)
Aiden Markram comes to bowl and Abhishek Sharma smashes through the off side for a four. Sanju Samson joins the party with his first over mid-off. IND 12/0 (2)
Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma walk out in the middle for India. Marco Jansen to open the bowling for South Africa. IND 2/0 (1)
Players of both teams are on the sidelines to enter the field. National Anthems coming up. India to go first, followed up South Africa.
Suryakumar Yadav (IND): We were looking to bat first. The wicket looks nice, better than the practice wicket and we will try to put runs on the board. The guys in the dressing room have made my job easier, the fearless approach they play with for their respective franchises and have brought the same approach to the team.
Aiden Markram (SA): We are going to bowl first. Looks a pretty good wicket. There has been some rain around this week and if there's moisture we want to make use of it. Fantastic opportunity for guys to make their debuts at home and it is a great time for them to enjoy the game. We are quite a competitive team and the discussions have been how can we get positive results.
Both Suryakumar Yadav and Aiden Markram are in the middle for the toss. South Africa win the toss and opt to bowl.
We are just minutes away from the coin toss. The pitch is hard despite a lot of rain in the lead up. The wicket will help the bowlers as they can expect bounce and carry. A bit of rain is expected later in the day.
Suryakumar Yadav loves batting against South Africa. His scores against the Proteas in T20Is read 50 not out, 61, 8, 68, 56, 100, 3. Can the Indian captain continue his good form today ?
In the last five matches between the two teams, both India and South Africa have won two games each while one match was washed out.
India captain, Suryakumar Yadav: It has always been challenging playing against South Africa, be it in the T20 World Cup or any bilateral. The last time when we were here, we had a good series. Hopefully, we will have a game (tomorrow); last time we missed out on the game here. But yeah, it's always fun and challenging and both sides enjoy having that great competition.
Expect a few debuts today. While South Africa could hand Andile Simelane his maiden cap, India could also give Ramandeep Singh a breakthrough after his impressive shows in domestic cricket and India A.
For the unknown, Ramandeep Singh is much like Rinku Singh and take the game away from the opposition on any given day. In fact, he has hit five sixes in an over twice in his career. Will he make India debut today?
India have played 22 T20Is so far in 2024, winning 21. including the T20 World Cup final. That's some record for the Men in Blue in 2024.
Meanwhile, South Africa are coming into this series after losing to West Indies and drawing against Ireland in the shortest format. The hosts will however be missing the services of pacers Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada.
Another record that is up for grab for the Indians is that both Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya need nine more wickets to become India's highest wicket-taker in T20Is. Both Hardik and Arshdeep are on 87 scalps each. Yuzvendra Chahal leads the list with 96 wickets.
Good news in the Indian cricket team. KL Rahul and his wife Athiya Shetty are expecting their first child in 2025.
Suryakumar Yadav is on the brink of breaking Rohit Sharma’s T20I record against South Africa. Fondly called as SKY, the right-hander needs just 84 runs to surpass Rohit for most runs against the Proteas in the shortest format of the game. Suryakumar has scored 346 runs in 7 T20Is so far against South Africa.
The series also serves players from both teams to step up and show their caliber ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction that is set to take place on November 24 and 25 in Saudi Arabia.
Also, Ramandeep Singh has impressed a lot recently with his all-rounder skills including some electric fielding during the Emerging Asia Cup.
The Indian pace attack of Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Vyshak Vijaykumar and Yash Dayal will be monitored closely by the BCCI selectors. Vijaykumar and Dayal are yet to make debuts for India.
India are set to open with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. While Samson is coming after his maiden T20I hundred against Bangladesh, things are a bit tough for Abhishek as the left-hander's scores in last six games read 0, 10, 14, 16, 15, 4.
For the record, this will be Suryakumar Yadav's third T20I series as a full-time captain. He had led India to series victory against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh earlier in the year.
The last time India toured South Africa for a T20I series was in 2023 where both teams played a 1-1 draw after the opener was washed out in Durban. Today, according to weather forecast websites, there is a slight chance of rain. Expect a modest temperature otherwise. India hold a 15-11 head-to-head record against the Proteas.
Hello and welcome to the first T20I between India and South Africa in Durban. This is also the first time, both these teams are meeting after the T20 World Cup 2024 final in June.
