IND vs SA 2022, 1st T20I: Today's match players list, teams & umpires
Team India will take on South Africa in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday (June 9). Both sides will view the series as preparation for the T20 World Cup, which will be held later this year in Australia.
Although the conditions at the ICC event will be vastly different, the five matches in India will give the teams an opportunity to iron out some flaws.
The hosts suffered a major setback on the eve of the series as KL Rahul was ruled out due to a right groin injury. In his absence, young wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been named captain for the T20I series while all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been picked as vice captain.
With Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah rested (and Suryakumar Yadav injured) for the series, Team India will look to try out some youngsters.
South Africa have a full strength squad. With the likes of Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada, all of whom impressed in IPL 2022 for their respective franchises, the Proteas would be disappointed if they donโt put up a competitive show.
Today's IND vs SA toss result
South Africa have won the toss and have opted to bowl first. Explaining the decision, Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said:
"We played a practice game here a couple of days ago and found that the wicket got better to bat on. It was a bit slow at the beginning, hopefully we can exploit that and restrict them to a decent score and chase it down."
South Africa are handing a debut to Tristan Stubbs as Aiden Markram has tested positive for Covid and is not available for selection.
For India, both the comeback men Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik are part of the playing XI. With Rahul injured, Ruturaj Gaikwad will open with Ishan Kishan.
IND vs SA - Today's Match Playing XIs
India: Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
Today IND vs SA match player list
India squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Umran Malik
South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Wayne Parnell, Lungi Ngidi, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs
IND vs SA - Today Match umpires
On-field umpires: Jayaraman Madanagopal, Nitin Menon
TV umpire: Virender Sharma
Match Referee: Javagal Srinath.