India and South Africa will lock horns in a five-match T20I series, set to commence on Tuesday, December 9, in Cuttack. It has been one tightly fought bilateral assignment so far, with South Africa whitewashing India in Tests and the Men in Blue proving to be strong enough to take the cake in the ODIs and now, it all boils down to the T20Is, with that extra spotlight due to a certain T20 World Cup on the horizon in less than two months. Since it's the penultimate assignment for both teams before the marquee event, both teams will be keen to fine-tune their preparations.
India will have their regulars, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya, after recovering from their respective injuries, while South Africa too will have David Miller finally at their disposal, after missing a couple of series due to an injury he sustained during the Hundred. The tracks are expected to be good ones in the series, but three of the games set to take place up north, amid cooler temperatures, it will be interesting to see if dew plays a huge part in the series. Aiden Markram and Suryakumar Yadav will be eager to land the first punch and it promises to be a cracker of a series, with two strong sides taking on each other.
When and where to watch IND vs SA T20I series live on TV and OTT in India?
The five-match T20I series between India and South Africa will kick off at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Tuesday, December 9, at 7:00 PM IST. The remaining matches are scheduled for December 11, 14, 17 and 19. After Cuttack, the caravan will go up North, with matches in Mullanpur, Dharamsala and Lucknow, before it finishes up in Ahmedabad. The IND vs SA T20I series will be live broadcast on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 2 Hindi and Star Sports 2 Hindi HD channels in India on TV, while all five matches can be streamed live on the JioHotstar app and website.
Squads
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma(w), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana
South Africa: Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram(c), Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Reeza Hendricks, Ottneil Baartman, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Lutho Sipamla