Cuttack Hosts T20 Series Opener; SA Skipper Says Absence of Kohli–Rohit Is ‘Good for Us’

The first match of the T20 series between India and South Africa will be played in Cuttack. Before this match, the captain of South Africa expressed his happiness and relief that two main players, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, were not a part of T20 International cricket. Today in Cuttack, under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, India will try to win its first match against South Africa. Both teams have played two matches here; South Africa has won both matches.

The Proteas skipper will look to keep the momentum. He is also happy to see Rohit and Virat in great form these days. In the recently concluded ODI series, both batted very well and made a number of records. Regarding the absence of these two veterans from the T20I squad, Markram said, "It's a good thing that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma aren't part of the T20I squad, but this is still a great Indian team. T20 is a completely different competition. We will approach it with a different plan."

All matches in the five-match T20I series will begin at 7 p.m. Live streaming will be available on Jio-Star, while all matches will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network.

South Africa's T20I squad: Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Aiden Markram (captain), Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brewis, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Reeza Hendricks, Ottneil Bartman, Donovan Ferreira, Quena Mphaka, and George Linde.

India's T20 squad: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana.