🏏South Africa tour of India 2025: India vs SA - 1st T20I🏏 - Page 2

Thank you, Raji, for the thread and for tagging me.

Best wishes to Team India.

South Africa's tour of India thus far

India don’t play a Test series for a long, long time, and there is going to be a whole lot of T20 cricket in the meantime, including the IPL and then the T20 World Cup. And so it will be interesting to see what the real aftermath would be a result as disastrous as a whitewash at home against South Africa, who had only won two Test matches in India this entire century before that. Especially considering India remain an outright favourite to win the T20 World Cup. For South Africa, they are clearly doing a lot of things right. After their historic Test series win at the start of this tour, they pushed India to the brink in a 350-run chase in the first ODI and then equalled the record for the highest succesfull run chase ever in the format against the Indians in the second. They then lost the third ODI rather meekly though, which would be a cause for concern. But imagine if they somehow manage to get something out of this T20I series, a format in which India are right now looking almost unbeatable. That would have some very immediate repurcussions indeed in the Indian camp.

What the weather is going to be like today

According to AccuWeather, temperatures during the match will range from 25°C in the morning to 28°C in the afternoon, before dropping to around 15° by evening. The conditions are expected to be hazy while the health quality will remain pretty unhealthy which is the case for most parts in India.

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Rinku Singh may have to wait for his chances

Or at least that is what Suryakumar Yadav indicated in the presser yesterday. Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya are two of the most potent big-hitters in this Indian team, both of whom excel at batting in the latter stages of the game. All of these are qualities that Rinku Singh possesses and, some may say, is even better at doing than at least one of the other two. But, what Rinku doesn’t have is the bowling skills that can allow the captain to give you four full overs. Dube and Pandya are both bona fide T20 fast bowlers, particularly the latter who can cat times be picked on either one of his skills alone. “Dube is an all-rounder. He and Hardik are the all-rounders. So, you can’t compare an all-rounder. The thing is all the batters from 3 to 7 are capable of batting at any position,” said SKY.

Suryakumar Yadav on Sanju Samson's credentials as an opener

the return of Shubman Gill to the squad has resulted in Samson being displaced from the opening slot and having to often adjust anywhere in the top order to the lower middle order, if he is picked. India captain Suryakumar Yadav acknowledged that Samson did extremely well at the top of the order but Gill was always first choice.

“In terms of Sanju, yes, when he came into the circuit, he batted higher up the order. Now, the thing is, other than the openers, I feel everyone has to be very flexible,” Suryakumar told reporters.

https://x.com/GossipsTv/status/1998320929026552258

As for conditions, this is the first time the Barabati Stadium has laid out a red soil surface.

18:00 Local Time, 12:30 GMT, 18:00 IST: India have exactly 10 T20Is left before the all important T20 World Cup at home. The combinations they opt for through this series will be telling as India will look to move from a phase of experimentation to one of stability. They'll be buoyed by the return of Hardik Pandya, who adds an unparelled sense of balance to this team. There will also be eyes on the top-order, particularly on Shubman Gill who is returning from injury. While Jitesh Sharma appears to be the wicketkeeper of choice for now, he'll face competition from Sanju Samson who's seen himself forced out of the top-order and later the XI after Gill's return. For South Africa, this series presents an excellent opportunity to gain both comfort and confidence in the same conditions as they'll face in the World Cup. Back in the present, there are also bragging rights at stake with South Africa having won the Test series and India the ODI series. While this is a relatively long five-match series, both sides will be keen on getting an early lead here. On that front, it's South Africa that have a unique advantage having won both T20Is at this venue against India.

Anrich Nortje is warming up. If he does end up playing, it will be his first T20I since the 2024 T20 World Cup final against India.

Pitch report: "62m and 65m square boundaries, 76m down the ground. This pitch was relaid in 2023. It's a red soil wicket but can't quite see the soil because there is grass on here. There are also a few cracks. It's going to play a lot better than it looks. Batters will make merry but I would bowl first. The red soil generally has more bounce. It's cold to the touch and dusty. Difficult to judge. Dew factor was massive yesterday, it usually sets in at 5:30pm but it hasn't yet. If you win the toss, you want to chase," say Deep Dasgupta and Pommie Mbangwa.

Pitch condition supports the one who bowl firstToss time

Toss won by SA, they opted to bowl.

We are batting ..pitch is gonna be slow..lost the toss