South Africa and India will meet in the first game of the three-match series on December 10. The first match of the South Africa vs India T20 series will be played at the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban.

South Africa and India begin their three-match T20I series on Sunday afternoon in Kingsmead, Durban. This will be South Africa's first T20I since early September when they were beaten 3-0 by Australia. India come into this series just a week after defeating Australia 4-1 in a five-match T20I series. The game starts at 4:00 p.m. local time.

South Africa impressed many cricket enthusiasts with their powerful batting and variety of bowling styles during the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Now the focus turns to T20 cricket ahead of the next World Cup and in home conditions they will fancy their chances against this Indian team.

India have not only won the series with Australia in the last few weeks but have also been able to provide some much-needed experience to some players who will be crucial to them in the next decade. With a strong squad for this series, they can be confident that they have enough talent to get off to a successful start.

Match Preview

South Africa (SA) and India (IND) will play the first T20I of the three-match series at Kingsmead in Durban on Sunday (December 10). The T20I series will be followed by a three-match ODI series and a two-match Test series.

Suryakumar Yadav has once again been entrusted with the captaincy of the Indian team. Under his leadership, India recently defeated Australia in the five-match T20I series. Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj have been added to the squad. Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Prasidh Krishna and Avesh Khan, who were part of the Indian team against Australia, were not included in this tour.

Aiden Markram will captain the Proteas in this series and they have some new faces in the squad. Quinton de Kock was not selected and is currently playing in the BBL. Kagiso Rabada was rested for the white-ball leg of the series and will be back for the Test series. David Bedingham, Nandre Burger and Mihlali Mpongwana were called up for the Proteas for the first time.

Pitch Report

The Kingsmead surface in Durban is likely to have plenty to offer batters in this game and this could be a high-scoring encounter. The average first innings score in the last five T20 matches at this venue was 160 runs. The team that wins the toss could attempt to bowl.

Weather Report

Heavy clouds and a lot of humidity are forecast for this game in Durban. It would also be a surprise if there were no rain disruptions and the region was forecast to have plenty of rain throughout the day.

Head to Head

India and South Africa have played each other in 23 T20 internationals, of which 13 were won by India and 10 by South Africa. Most of the recent games between the two teams have been played in India, but the conditions there are very different to this series. Interestingly, India have won 5 of the 7 T20 Internationals they have played against the home team in South Africa.

Toss Prediction

With 17% of T20 matches at this venue ending in a result, 50% were won by the team that finished second. We assume that both captains will want to field first in this game.

Match Prediction

This should be a very interesting series as both teams continue to provide opportunities for players who could be an integral part of their T20I teams at next year's World Cup. India's batting line-up looks very strong after the return of Shubman Gill and they also have a lot more experience with the ball than they did in their series against Australia. The home advantage will be useful for South Africa but overall we are backing India to win a close contest early in this series.

Venue Details

Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium will host this competition between the two teams. The square boundaries are not too big and the outfield is quite fast here, so getting twos and threes might be a bit difficult in the middle overs and teams can look for the maximums to keep the scoreboard ticking , and losing wickets in the process.

Betting Tips

Almost all betting apps have India favored to win this game. We do not agree with this assessment at all. South Africa showed how dangerous they can be in the Over-50s World Cup when many people expected them to and we think they will end up surprising a few people in this series.

India's T20 team is somewhat inexperienced, lacks positional clarity and lacks bowling quality.

Bet on South Africa to win.

Probable Playing XI

South Africa

MP Breetzke, RR Hendricks, AK Markram (C), H Klaasen (wk), DA Miller, T Stubbs, M Jansen, G Coetzee, KA Maharaj, T Shamsi, BE Hendricks.

India

Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (wk), S Iyer, SA Yadav (C), RK Singh, RA Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj.

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South Africa key Players

Reeza Hendricks – the right-handed opener has a top score of 83 in T20Is and has registered four scores of 40+ in his six T20I innings so far in 2023.

Aiden Markram – the skipper averages close to 40 in T20Is and has scored 1063 runs from 33 innings in this format. He made one hundred and three half-centuries in the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

Tabraiz Shamsi – the 33-year-old wrist spinner has taken 76 T20I wickets with his best figures of 5/24. It's going to turn around and bounce off that surface in Kingsmead.

Marco Jansen – the bowling all-rounder was one of the stars of the 2023 Cricket World Cup with consistent wickets and clean hitting towards the end of the innings. His game seems perfect for T20 cricket.

India Key Players

Ruturaj Gaikwad - the opener ended the series with Australia as the leading run-scorer after scoring 123 in the innings following a half-century.

Suryakumar Yadav - the skipper was in charge of the series win over Australia and has an average of 44.11 from 55 T20I innings.

Ravindra Jadeja – the vice-captain is a match-winner with bat, ball and on the field. He will be a key lower order batter in this game if needed.

Ravi Bishnoi – the 23-year-old spinner finished the recent five-match T20I series against Australia as the top wicket-taker with a total of nine dismissals.