South Africa skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the second T20I match at St George’s Park, Gqeberha. India made some big changes in their playing XI as some ODI World Cup stars returned to the side after a short break.
Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Ravi Bishnoi failed to make the cut in the XI as Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav returned to the XI.
Shubman will open the innings for India alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal as young Tilak Varma was picked over Iyer at the number 3 spot as the match is going to be crucial for the team for their T20 WC preparations.
Bishnoi, who was recently crowned as the number 1 T20I bowler, also missed the match as India went ahead with returning Jadeja and Kuldeep as their spin duo.
Markram at the toss asserted that every game is important for South Africa to prepare for the T20 WC next year.
“We are going to bowl first, been under the covers for most of the day, so I would assume it would move around a bit. Each game becomes important for us to fine tune things before the 2024 T20 WC, hopefully we can start well today. From my point of view it’s about understanding if someone needs a rest. No debuts today,” Markram said.
India stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav said he was confused about what to choose at the toss and was happy to bat first.
“Very happy to be here and happy to know there’s some cricket around. We were confused what to do, but now we are very happy to bat first. It’s an opportunity for everyone playing this game. World Cup is still 5-6 months away. Just enjoy yourself is the message to the team,” Surya said.
South Africa (Playing XI): Matthew Breetzke, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
