India vs South Africa: First T20I preview and probable playing XI

The India-South Africa T20I series begins on Friday (November 8). Suryakumar Yadav and Co. will play four T20Is in South Africa, starting with the first match at Kingsmead in Durban. The opening match of the series is scheduled to start at 8:30 PM IST. Fans are eagerly waiting to witness Sanju Samson's explosive batting. The 29-year-old scored a stunning 40-ball century against Bangladesh in his last international outing. He will open the batting with Abhishek Sharma, who is aiming to get some runs under his belt after having failed to shine against Bangladesh. 

Also read: 

Sanju's century against the Proteas in the 2023 ODI series has also raised fans' expectations. Under Suryakumar's captaincy, India won the T20 series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Suryakumar is aiming for a hat-trick of series wins. There are high expectations from the batting of Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma, and Rinku Singh, who are all in excellent form. There is also anticipation about whether Ramandeep Singh and Vyshak Vijaykumar will make their debuts. VVS Laxman is India's coach, in place of Gautam Gambhir, who is preparing for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

News from Durban suggests that the first match might be affected by rain. Due to adverse weather conditions, intermittent rain is expected during the first match. While the start of the match is expected to be slightly cloudy, rain is not anticipated. Rain is expected around 7 pm local time. AccuWeather predicts a 47% chance of rain. For the remaining days, the probability of rain is over 50%. If the prediction holds true, fans might be disappointed in the first match.

India's Probable XI for the first T20: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Dayal, Varun Chakravarthy.

Where to watch the match

Sports 18 holds the official broadcasting rights for the India-South Africa T20 series. The match can be watched on the Sports 18 channel in India. Mobile users can also watch the match via Jio Cinema app.

Also read: